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A  YEAR   IN   EUROPE. 


A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE 


'By 
WALTER  W.  MOORE,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

President  of  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  Virginia 


THIRD  EDITION 


RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA 

$trrshtft?rian  QJnmmitf*?  at  iHJubltrattott 

1905 


COPYRIGHTED 

BY 

WALTER  W.  MOORE, 
1904. 


PRINTED  BY 

WHITTKT  &  SHEPPERSON, 
RICHMOND,  VA. 


STACK 
ANNEX 

RaJl 


TO 


Companions 

THIS  BOOK  is  DEDICATED 

AS  A  MEMENTO 
OF  HAPPY  DAYS  IN  THE  OLD  WORLD. 


STACK 

ANNEX 


FOREWORD. 

THE  only  excuse  I  have  to  offer  for  the  publication 
of  these  desultory  and  chatty  letters  in  this  more  per- 
manent form  is  that  a  number  of  my  friends  have 
requested  it.  Many  of  the  letters  have  already  ap- 
peared in  the  columns  of  The  Children's  Friend,  for 
which  they  were  originally  written,  at  the  instance  of 
the  Presbyterian  Committee  of  Publication ;  but  I  have 
included  in  the  volume  several  letters  which  were 
written  for  other  periodicals,  and  a  considerable  num- 
ber which  have  not  been  published  anywhere  till  now. 
Some  of  them  were  written  hastily,  and,  as  it  were,  on 
the  wing,  others  with  more  deliberation  and  care. 
Some  were  intended  for  young  readers,  others  for  older 
people.  This  will  account  for  the  differences  of  style 
and  subject  matter  which  will  strike  every  one,  and 
which  will  be  particularly  noticeable  wrhen  the  letters 
are  read  consecutively. 

In  some  cases  I  have  drawn  the  materials,  in  part, 
from  other  sources  besides  my  own  observations,  the 
main  object  at  times  being  not  originality,  but  accuracy 
and  fullness  of  information.  In  such  cases  I  have 
endeavored  to  make  full  acknowledgment  of  my  in- 
debtedness to  other  writers. 

As  most  of  the  letters  were  written  for  a  denomi- 
national paper,  they  naturally  contain  a  good  many 


vi  FOREWORD. 

references  to  notable  events  in  the  history  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  to  some  of  the  differences  be- 
tween that  church  and  others  in  matters  of  doctrine, 
polity  and  forms  of  worship.  But  I  trust  that  in  no 
case  have  I  felt  or  expressed  a  spirit  of  uncharitable 
sectarianism.  If  any  reader  should  receive  the  impres- 
sion that  I  have  done  so  in  one  or  two  instances,  I 
request  him  to  suspend  judgment  till  he  has  read  all 
the  references  to  such  matters  contained  in  the  letters. 
It  will  then  be  seen  that  if  I  have  had  occasion  to  make 
some  strictures  upon  the  Anglican  and  Roman  Catholic 
Churches,  I  have  not  hesitated  to  make  them  upon  my 
own  church  also,  when  I  have  observed,  in  her  worship 
or  work,  things  which  seemed  to  argue  that  she  was 
untrue  in  any  measure  to  her  principles ;  and  that  if  I 
have  criticised  the  Anglo-Catholic  and  Roman  Catholic 
systems  as  erroneous,  I  have  recognized  thankfully  the 
great  evangelical  truths  embedded  in  the  heart  of 
Anglican,  and  even  Romish  theology,  though  so  sadly 
overlaid,  and  have  rejoiced  to  pay  my  tribute  of  praise 
to  the  saintly  characters  that  have  been  developed 
within  those  bodies  in  spite  of  their  errors. 
RICHMOND,  VA.,  June  i,  1904. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
A  COLD  SUMMER  VOYAGE. 

A  Pleasant  Memory. — A  Depressing  Start. — Discomforts  at 
Sea. — Life  on  a  German  Steamship. — The  Unification  of 
the  World.— All's  Well  that  Ends  Well.— Arrival  at 
Southampton,  . . . ". 9 

CHAPTER  II. 

A  VISIT  TO  THE  TOWN  OF  DR.  ISAAC  WATTS. 

A  Sheltered  Harbor  with  Double  Tides. — Historical  Interest 
of  Southampton:  Canute,  William  the  Conqueror,  Wil- 
liam Rufus,  Richard  Lion  Heart,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. — 
The  Chief  Distinction  of  the  Town.— Statue  of  Dr. 
Watts. — Sketch  of  the  great  hymn  writer,  16 

CHAPTER  III. 
SALISBURY,  SARUM,  AND  STONEHENGE. 

A  Fascinating  Cathedral  Town. — Rural  Scenery  in  Southern 
England. — Impressiveness  of  Stonehenge. — Other  Things 
of  Interest  About  Salisbury.  —  What  the  Bishop  Said 
About  the  Presbyterian  Form  of  the  Early  Church, 21 

CHAPTER  IV. 

WINCHESTER  WORTHIES  :    ALFRED  THE  GREAT,   IZAAK  WALTON, 
THOMAS  KEN. 

Memorials  of  Kings  Good  and  Bad. — Memorial  of  the  Gentle 
Fisherman.  —  Wit  in  Winchester  College.  —  A  Lovely 
Churchman. — Ken's  Defiance  of  James  II.,  28 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  UGLINESS  AND  THE  CHARM  OF  LONDON. 

A  Vast  and  Dingy  Metropolis.— The  ^Esthetic  Value  of 
Soot. — Brick  versus  Stone. — Scotch  Cities'  Stately,  but 
Gloomy. — Brightness  of  Paris. — Immensity  and  Multi- 
tude.— The  Body  is  More  than  Raiment,  34 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  ENGLISH  VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY. 

Ambassador  Choate's  Reception.  —  Increasing  Friendliness 
Between  America  and  England. — How  the  English  Now 
View  the  American  Revolution. — A  Fair  Statement  of 
the  Question  and  the  Conflict. — What  England  Learned 
from  Fighting  Against  Her  Own  Principles. — The  Monu- 
ment of  Washington  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. — The  Pos- 
sible Union  of  Canada  and  the  United  States,  ^i 

CHAPTER  VII. 
How  THE  ENGLISH  REGARD  THE  AMERICANS. 

Former  Prejudices  Passing  Away. — The  English  Admit  that 
America  Holds  the  Future. — English  Candor  and  Eng- 
lish Inconsistency.  —  A  Sectarian  Measure  in  Parlia- 
ment.— What  Scotchmen  Think  of  the  Education  Bill. — 
Passive  Resistance  of  the  Nonconformists,  49 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  BRITISH  REPUBLIC  AND  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 

The  Real  Ruler  of  the  British  Empire.— The  House  of  Par- 
liament.— Getting  into  the  Lower  House. — The  Debate 
and  the  Debaters. — Harcourt,  Bryce,  Campbell-Banner- 
man,  Lloyd-George,  John  Dillon,  Arthur  Balfour. — The 
Incongruity  of  a  Presbyterian  Prime  Minister. — English 
and  American  Oratory,  55 


CONTENTS.  ix 

CHAPTER  IX. 
CAMBRIDGE  AND  HER  SCHOOLS. 

The  Cathedral  Route.— The  Two  University  Towns.— Cam- 
bridge More  Progressive  than  Oxford. — The  Presby- 
terian Element. — The  Two  Most  Learned  Women  in  the 
World.  —  Westminster  College.  —  The  Same  Difficulties 
About  Candidates  for  the  Ministry, 63 

CHAPTER  X. 

FROM  ENGLAND  TO  SCOTLAND  —  THE  EASTERN  ROUTE. 
The  Land  of  the  Mountain  and  the  Flood. — Melrose,  Abbots- 
ford,  and  Dryburgh. — The  Wizard  of  the  North. — Edin- 
burgh.— Temporary  Residence  in  Auld  Reekie. — Public 
Worship  in  Scotland.  —  Organ,  Choir,  and  Congrega- 
tion.— Bibles  in  the  Churches,  63 

CHAPTER  XI. 

SOME  ENGLISH  AND  SCOTCH  PREACHERS. 

Dean  Farrar  in  Westminster  Abbey. — Mr.  Haweis  and  Dr. 
Wace. — Spurgeon,  Parker,  and  Hughes. — Moravian  Mis- 
sion House. — General  Booth. — Scottish  Mind  and  Scot- 
tish Heart. — Dr.  Marcus  Dods. — Dr.  George  Matheson. — 
Dr.  Whyte  and  Mr.  Black. — Interview  with  Professor 
Sayce. — The  Inevitable  Subject,  75 

CHAPTER  XII. 

ECHOES  OF  A  SPICY  BOOK  ON  SCOTLAND. 

A  Unique  Prayer  for  Prince  Charlie.  —  Church-Going  in 
Edinburgh. — The  Bibles,  the  Sermons,  the  Prayers,  the 
Music. — Jenny  Geddes  and  her  Stocl. — The  Disruption 
in  1843. — A  Sermon-Taster  with  a  Nippy  Tongue. — Scot- 
tish and  American  Repartee,  87 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Is  THE  SCOTTISH  CHARACTER  DEGENERATING? 
"Mine  Own  Romantic  Town." — The   Seamy   Side  of  Edin- 
burgh.—The  Cause  of  Her  Wretchedness.— Not  Lack  of 


x  CONTENTS. 

Native  Ability,  nor  Disregard  of  the  Sabbath,  but  the 
Curse  of  Strong  Drink. — Appalling  Statistics. — A  Lesser 
Menace,  i°° 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
STIRLING,  THE  LAKES,  AND  GLASGOW. 

The  Wallace  Monument. — Memorials  of  the  Martyrs. — Mar- 
garet Wilson. — The  Covenanters. — The  Author  of  "The 
Men  of  the  Moss  Hags." — Aberfoyle,  The  Trossachs, 
Loch  Katrine,  Loch  Lomond. — Lord  Overtoun's  Garden 
Party.  —  Rev.  John  McNeill.  —  Scotch  Humor.  —  Glas- 
gow.— The  Cathedral. — Lord  Kelvin,  107 

CHAPTER  XV. 
OBAN,  IONA,  AND  STAFFA. 

Rude  Seas  off  the  West  Coast.— A  Difficult  Landing.— The 
Presbyter  Abbot,  Columba. — The  Evangelization  of  Scot- 
land from  lona. — The  Burial  Place  of  the  Scottish 
Kings.  —  The  Basaltic  Columns  of  Staffa.  —  Fingal's 
Cave. — Nature's  Cathedral. — The  Caledonian  Canal, 119 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
INVERNESS  AND  MEMORIES  OF  FLORA  MACDONALD. 

A  Clean  and  Comely  City. — The  Statue  of  Flora  Macdon- 
ald. — The  Career  of  a  Royal  Adventurer. — A  Fugitive  in 
the  Hebrides.  —  A  Woman  to  the  Rescue.  —  Feminine 
Courage  and  Resource. — Flora  Macdonald  as  Prisoner. — 
Her  Marriage. — She  Entertains  Dr.  Johnson  and  Bos- 
well.  —  Moves  to  North  Carolina.  —  Misfortunes  in  the 
New  World. — Her  Return  to  Scotland  and  her  Last 
Days,  124 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

FROM  SCOTLAND  TO  ENGLAND  —  WESTERN  ROUTE. 

In  and  Around  Perth. — Quhele,  Shoe  Heel  and  Maxton. — 
Crieff  and  Drumtochty. — Loch  Leven. — Ayr  and  Robert 


CONTENTS.  ,  xi 

Burns.  —  Dumfries,  Keswick,  Skiddaw.  —  The  English 
Lakes. — Chester. — Lichfield  and  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson. — 
The  Shakespeare  Country. — The  American  Window  at 
Stratford.  —  The  English  Language  as  Spoken  in  the 
Birthplace  of  Shakespeare  and  Elsewhere,  133 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
A  VISIT  TO  RUGBY  AND  A  TRAMP  TO  THE  WHITE  HORSE  HILL. 

Tom  Brown's  School  Days  at  Rugby. — The  Rugby  of  To- 
day.— Our  Expedition  to  Tom  Brown's  Birthplace. — The 
Highest  Horse  we  Ever  Mounted. — The  Roman  Camp. — 
King  Alfred's  Defeat  of  the  Danes. — The  Manger  and 
the  Dragon's  Hill.  —  The  Blowing  Stone.  —  The  effect 
upon  our  Appetites. — The  Tea  we  did  not  Drink. — Return 
to  Oxford. — London  Once  More,  142 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  MOST  INTERESTING  BUILDING  IN  THE  WORLD. 

The  Birthplace  of  the  Shorter  Catechism. — The  Coronation 
Postponed. — Westminster  Abbey  Still  Closed. — The  As- 
sembly of  Divines. — The  Two  Places  of  Meeting. — The 
Two  Types  of  Worship.  —  Interior  of  the  Jerusalem 
Chamber. — Exterior  of  the  Jerusalem  Chamber. — Con- 
nection of  Henry  IV.,  Sir  Thomas  More,  Joseph  Addi- 
son,  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton  with  the  Jerusalem  Cham- 
ber.— Architectural  Glory  of  Westminster  Abbey. — Its 
Historical  Interest. — Coronations. — The  Stone  of  Scone. 
— Burials. — Monuments. — Pagan  Sculptures  in  a  Chris- 
tian Church,  151 

CHAPTER  XX. 
THE  ROYAL  CHAPELS  IN  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY. 

A  Hard-Hearted  Verger.  —  A  Courteous  Sub-Dean.  —  The 
Wax  Effigies. — Mutilated  Monuments. — Monuments  De- 
nied to  Notable  Persons. — The  Objection  to  Milton. — 
General  Meigs  and  President  Davis. — The  Vindication 
of  Cromwell. — Treatment  of  his  Dead  Body. — History  of 
his  Head. — His  Statue  at  Westminster,  168 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  CATHEDRALS  VERSUS  THE  GOSPEL. 

Original  Significance  of  the  Cathedrals.— Their  Esthetic  In- 
fluence.— Their  Romanizing  Tendency. — Their  Charm  for 
the  Greatest  of  the  Puritans. — A  Half-Reformed  Church. 
— Relics  of  Romanism. — Effect  of  Cathedrals  on  Pres- 
byterian Worship. — Superior  Impressiveness  of  Protes- 
tant Simplicity,  *77 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
SOME  THINGS  FOR  HIGH  CHURCHMEN  TO  THINK  ABOUT. 

The  Use  of  Written  Prayers. — The  Huguenot  Presbyterians 
in  Canterbury  Cathedral. — Scuffle  Between  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Canterbury  and  York. — The  Concomitants  of 
Anglican  Worship. — The  Intoning. — Canon  Henson  at 
St.  Margaret's.  —  His  Remarks  on  Anglican  Narrow- 
ness.— What  he  Could  See  in  Virginia. — Decreasing  At- 
tendance in  the  Anglican  Churches  in  London. — An  Epis- 
copalian Estimate  of  Presbyterian  Preaching,  186 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
PARIS  AND  MEMORIES  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 

The  English  Channel  as  a  Health  Resort. — The  External 
Beauty  of  the  French  Capital. — What  we  Did  Not  Like 
About  Paris. — The  Louvre  and  its  Treasures. — The  Boer 
Generals.  —  The  Huguenot  Name  and  the  Huguenot 
Character. — Palissy  the  Potter. — Other  Huguenot  Heroes 
and  Heroines. — A  Roman  Catholic's  Condemnation  of 
Roman  Catholic  Persecutions.  —  France's  Loss  the 
World's  Gain. — What  we  Owe  to  the  Huguenots. — The 
Huguenot  Strain  in  Virginia. — The  Present  Huguenot 
Revival  in  France. — Brussels  and  Waterloo,  199 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
THE  MAKING  OF  HOLLAND. 

Unique  Interest  of  Holland. — A  Land  Below  Sea-Level. — 
Water  as  an  Enemy. — Dykes  as  Protectors. — How  Dykes 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

are  Made.  —  Sand  Dunes.  —  Canals.  —  Wind-Mills.  — 
Polders.  —  Entering  Holland.  —  The  Scenery  and  the 
Scenes. — Rotterdam  and  Erasmus. — Delft  and  William 
the  Silent. — The  Hague. — Rembrandt's  "School  of  Anat- 
omy."— A  Presbyterian  Queen. — A  Presbyterian  Preacher 
as  Prime  Minister. — Unpresbyterian  Church  Buildings. — 
Would  the  Destruction  of  all  the  Cathedrals  have  been  a 
Loss  or  a  Gain  ? 212 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

LEYDEN'S   UNIVERSITY,   HAARLEM'S   FLOWERS,  AND   AMSTER- 
DAM'S COMMERCE. 

The  Great  Siege. — A  University  as  a  Reward  of  Valor. — John 
Robinson  and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. — Horse  Flesh  as 
Food. — Haarlem  and  the  Flower  Boom. — Amsterdam's 
Islands  and  Canals. — A  City  Built  on  Stakes. — Business 
of  Amsterdam. — President  Kruger  at  Utrecht. — Queer 
Customs  in  Holland. — The  Dutch  Mania  for  Cleanli- 
ness.— Mr.  Edward  Bok  on  "The  Mother  of  America,". .  222 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
UP  THE  RHINE  AND  OVER  THE  ALPS. 

Cologne  and  Coblentz. — The  Vintage  of  the  Rhine  Valley. — 
Wiesbaden  and  the  German  Woods. — The  Luther  Monu- 
ment at  Worms.  —  Wintry  Weather  at  Heidelberg.  — 
Strasburg's  Cathedral  and  Clock. — Switzerland'in  Win- 
ter-time.— The  Lion  of  Lucerne. — A  Cold  Day  on  the 
Lake. — Over  the  Alps. — Snow  in  Italy. — Milan 238 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
VENICE,  BOLOGNA,  FLORENCE,  AND  PISA. 

The  Queen  of  the  Adriatic. — The  Fallen  Campanile. — Fra 
Paolo  Sarpi,  the  Greatest  of  the  Venetians. — Busy  Bo- 
logna.— The  Leaning  Towers. — The  Colonnades. — The 
Oldest  University. — Galvani  and  his  Frog. — The  Flower 
of  Fair  Cities. — Art  Treasures  of  Florence. — The  Re- 
former Before  the  Reformation. — Martyrdom  of  Savona- 
rola.— Pisa's  Four  Monuments, 245 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
SOME  LITTLE  ADVENTURES  BY  THE  WAY. 

Letter-Writing  Under  Difficulties. — An  Exemplary  Traveller. 
—A  Mild  Sensation  in  Leyden  —  A  German  Baby-Cart 
out  of  its  Element. — Something  New  in  Venice. — No 
Place  for  Wheels. — Gondolas  and  Gondoliers. — Wonder- 
ful Dexterity  with  a  Single  Oar.— A  Scattering  of  Bag- 
gage on  the  Streets  of  Cologne. — Disastrous  Descent  of 
a  Baby-Cart  from  the  Top  of  an  Omnibus.— Extortion 
and  Fraud  in  Sacred  Places,  254 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

RELICS  IN  GENERAL  AND  THE  IRON  CROWN  OF  LOMBARDY  IN 
PARTICULAR. 

Mark  Twain's  Animadversions. — The  Palladium  of  Venice. — 
The  Gift  of  Leo  XIII.  to  London.— The  Blood  of  St. 
Januarius. — The  House  of  the  Virgin  at  Loreto. — The 
Wonder- Working  Bones  of  St.  Anne  in  Canada. — The 
Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy. — A  Winter  Trip  to  Monza. — 
The  Treasury  of  the  Cathedral.— The  Chapel  of  the  Great 
Relic. — Why  the  Crown  is  so  Sacred. — How  it  was  used 
by  Charlemagne  and  Napoleon.  —  Rome  Caps  the  Cli- 
max. —  Do  American  Roman  Catholics  Believe  in  the 
Relics? 259 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
ROMAN  CATHOLIC  RELICS  AT  ROME. 

The  Miraculous  Snow  in  Summer-time. — The  Holy  Cradle. — 
The  Little  Doll  that  Owns  a  Large  Carriage.  —  The 
Wealth  and  Power  of  the  Miraculous  Bambino. — The 
Communion  Table  Used  by  Christ.— The  Holy  Stairs 
from  Pilate's  Palace. — The  Man  who  Crawled  Up  and 
Walked  Down. — The  Miraculous  Portrait  and  the  Shoes 
of  Christ. — The  Inscription  on  the  Cross  and  the  Finger 
of  Thomas. — A  Bottle  of  the  Blood  of  Christ. — Exclusion 
of  Women  from  Holy  Places. — The  Hardness  of  St. 
Peter's  Knees.— The  Hardness  of  St.  Peter's  Head.— 


CONTENTS.  xv 

What  the  Head  of  St.  Paul  Did.— St.  Paul's  Use  of  Plau- 
tilla's  Veil.— The  Footprints  of  Christ  in  Stone.— The 
Chains  of  St.  Peter. — The  Column  Against  which  Christ 
Leaned  in  the  Temple.— The  Chair  of  St.  Peter.— The 
Lance  that  Pierced  the  Saviour's  Side. — The  Napkin  of 
St.  Veronica  with  the  Miraculous  Impression  of  our 
Lord's  Face. — The  Head  of  the  Apostle  Andrew, 273 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
THE  LEGENDS,  THE  POPES,  AND  THE  PASQUINADES. 

The  Manufacture  of  St.  Philomena.  —  The  Canonization  of 
Buddha. — The  Courteous  Spaniard. — The  Miracles  of  St. 
Dominic.  —  Miracles  Wrought  by  Other  Saints  and 
Images. — How  the  Papal  Treasury  was  Filled,  and  How 
it  was  Emptied.  —  Some  Ugly  Passages  in  Papal  His- 
tory.— Pasquino's  View  of  the  Pope. — What  the  Italians 
Now  Think  About  it. — Few  Men  and  Many  Women  at 
the  Confessional. — Lord  Macaulay,  Charles  Dickens,  Mr. 
Gladstone,  Mr.  McCarthy  and  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  on 
the  Influence  of  Romanism. — The  New  Pope  a  Good 
Man, 293 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
THE  OLD  FORCES  AND  THE  NEW  IN  THE  ETERNAL  CITY. 

An  Audience  with  the  Pope. — "Long  Live  the  Pope-King!" 
The  Pope's  Last  Jubilee  in  St.  Peter's. — Our  Quarters  on 
the  Pincian  Hill. — The  Sweep  of  History  Seen  from  the 
Janiculum. — The  Colosseum  and  the  Baths  of  Caracalla. — 
The  Papal  Passion  for  Terrestrial  Immortality.  —  The 
Building  Boom  Under  the  New  Government. — Can  the 
New  Government  Maintain  Itself  Against  the  Priests?..  315 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
THE  Two  TYPES  OF  RELIGION  IN  ROME. 

The  Cappucin  Cemetery. — Some  Differences  Between  America 
and  Italy. — The  Playful  Inquisition. — The  Relative  Rank 
of  the  Deities  Worshipped  in  Rome. — The  Fee  of  the 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

Visitor  More  Important  than  the  Soul  of  the  Wor- 
shipper. —  Sensuality  versus  Spirituality  in  Art.  —  The 
Kind  of  Character  Produced.  —  The  Other  Type.  — An 
Apostolic  Preacher  in  Rome.  —  A  Wise  and  Loving 
Pastor, 328 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
THE  INEXHAUSTIBLENESS  OF  ROME. 

The  Most  Interesting  City  in  the  World. — The  Embarrass- 
ment of  Riches. — Boundless  Wealth  of  Materials. — The 
Appian  Way,  the  Catacombs,  the  Ecclesiastical  Statues. — 
The  Remains  of  Classical  Rome:  The  Arches,  the 
Columns,  the  Tombs,  the  Statues. — The  Masterpieces  of 
Sculpture  and  the  Masterpieces  of  Painting  in  Rome. — 
The  Best  Books  About  Rome. — Lord  Mahon  and  Pro- 
fessor Lanciani  on  the  Last  of  the  Stuarts. — Ave  Roma 
Immortalis, 341 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 
NAPLES,  CAPRI,  VESUVIUS,  AMALFI,  AND  POMPEII. 

Beauty  and  Filth. — Danger  and  Indifference. — Street  Scenes 
in  Naples. — The  Blue  Grotto  of  Capri. — The  Ascent  of 
Vesuvius. — A  Stream  of  Liquid  Fire. — Hard  Climbing 
Through  Cinders.  —  Driven  Back  from  the  Crater  by 
Sulphur  Fumes  —  The  Most  Beautiful  Drive  in  the 
World. — The  Loveliness  of  Amalfi. — The  Ruins  of  Pom- 
peii.— Story  of  the  Catastrophe. — The  Work  of  Exhuma- 
tion.— The  Return  Voyage  by  Gibraltar  and  the  Azores. — 
There  is  no  Place  Like  Home, 346 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Westminster  Abbey  and  Jerusalem  Chamber, Frontispiece. 

The  House  of  Parliament,  London, 56 

Clare  College  and  King's  Chapel,  Cambridge, 62 

Sir  Walter  Scott's  Seat  in  Melrose  Abbey,  . .' 69 

Drill  of  Highlanders,  Edinburgh  Castle,  88 

Princes  Street,  Edinburgh,  101 

Monument  to  Margaret  Wilson,  Stirling, 108 

Statue  of  Flora  Macdonald,  Inverness, 125 

Magdalen  College,  Oxford, 150 

Poets  Corner,  Westminster  Abbey,  164 

A  Stranger  in  Leyden, 222 

The  Lion  of  Lucerne,  242 

The  Doge's  Palace,  Venice,   246 

The  Bambino,  276 

Scala  Santa,  Rome,  279 

Kings  of  England  and  Italy  in  Rome, 319 

Panorama  of  Naples,  346 

A  Windy  Day  on  Mount  Vesuvius 350 

On  the  Road  to  Amalfi, 352 

Colonnade  of  Hotel  Cappucini,  354 

Pompeii, 357 


A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

CHAPTER  I. 
A  COLD  SUMMER  VOYAGE. 

SOUTHAMPTON,  ENGLAND,  June  28,  1902. 

AN  American  traveller  says  that  a  sea  voyage,  com- 
pared with  land  travel,  is  a  good  deal  like  matrimony 
compared  with  single  blessedness :   either  decidedly  better 
A  Pleasant  or  decidedly  worse.    With  me,  on  my  first 

Memory.  voyage  to  Europe  a  few  years  ago,  it  was, 
like  my  own  venture  in  matrimony,  decidedly  better.  We 
sailed  from  New  York  on  a  brilliant  day,  and  nearly  all 
the  way  over  the  weather  was  bright,  bracing,  buoyant, 
with  blue  sky  above,  blue  sea  beneath,  and  just  enough 
motion  of  the  water  to  give  it  all  the  fascination  of  chang- 
ing beauty.  Only  once  or  twice  did  even  our  least  sea- 
soned passengers  need  "some  visible  means  of  support," 
on  account  of  the  rolling  of  the  ship,  and  when  we  struck 
the  Gulf  Stream,  deep  blue  and  warm,  it  was  pleasant  on 
deck  even  without  wraps,  and  I  remember  the  captain's 
telling  me  he  had  seen  the  temperature  of  the  water 
change  thirty-one  degrees  in  two  minutes,  when  he  would 
pass  from  the  Gulf  Stream  into  a  colder  current,  though 
we  ourselves  had  no  such  experience  then.  Day  after  day 
we  lounged  on  deck  restfully,  or  walked  about  comfort- 
ably, taking  deep  and  leisurely  inhalations  of  the  pure 
ocean  air,  and  having  frequent  opportunity  to  learn  the 
meaning  of  "Cat's  Paw"  as  applied  to  winds,  when,  under 
the  gentle  dips  of  air,  the  placid  ocean  took  on  a  pitted 

2 


io  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

appearance  exactly  like  the  tracks  made  by  cats'  feet  in 
soft  snow. 

Our  present  voyage  has  been  very  different, 

A  Depressing: 

start.  and  I  fear  that  some  of  the  young  people 

with  me,  who  are  familiar  with  my  impressions  of  the 
former  passage,  have  felt  some  disappointment  with  the 
ocean.  The  circumstances  of  our  start  were  depressing, 
notwithstanding  the  animation  of  the  scene  at  the  North 
German  Lloyd  Pier,  with  its  throng  of  carriages,  baggage 
wagons,  trucks,  trunks,  tourists'  agents,  passengers,  and 
friends  who  had  come  to  see  them  off,  and  who  waved 
their  handkerchiefs  and  shouted  farewells  and  sang  Ger- 
man songs,  while  the  band  on  the  Bremen  played  inspiring 
airs,  and  her  own  hoarse  whistles  capped  the  climax  of 
the  din,  as  the  tugs  pulled  the  great  ship  out  into  the 
river,  and  turned  her  prow  towards  the  ocean,  and  her 
ponderous  engines  began  to  throb.  It  was  all  in  vain. 
Nothing  could  make  it  seem  cheerful.  The  rain  was 
pouring  steadily  and  heavily  from  leaden  skies,  and  just 
outside  the  harbor  we  ran  into  an  opaque  fog  that 
shrouded  all  the  beauty  of  the  sea,  and  made  it  necessary 
for  the  fog  horn  to  sound  its  prolonged,  mournful,  omi- 
nous, and  nerve-racking  blast  every  minute  through  the 
rest  of  the  day  and  night,  to  avoid  collision  with  other 
vessels  groping  through  the  deep.  It  was  a  comfort  to 
recall  the  hymn  we  had  used  in  the  family  circle  the 
morning  we  started  from  home  — 

Let  the  sweet  hope  that  thou  art  mine 

My  life  and  death  attend, 
Thy  presence  through  my  journey  shine 
And  crown  my  journey's  end" — 

and  to  commit  ourselves  to  the  care  of  him  who  hath 
measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  and  to 


A  COLD  SUMMER  VOYAGE.  n 

whom  the  darkness  and  the  light  are  both  alike,  and  to 
whom  the  night  shineth  as  the  day. 

Discomforts         For  several  days  the  sea  was  "a  gray  and 
at  sea.  melancholy  waste,"  and,  when  at  length  the 

weather  cleared,  a  cold  wind  —  very  cold  and  cutting 
and  persistent  —  blew  hard  from  the  northwest,  making 
our  side  of  the  deck  intolerable,  even  with  our  heaviest 
winter  clothing  and  a  great  profusion  of  wraps,  so  that  it 
was  hardly  a  surprise  to  us,  when  about  half  way  over, 
to  see  in  the  distance  what  we  took  to  be  an  iceberg 
glistening  cold  against  the  horizon  —  very  interesting,  of 
course,  as  compared  with  the  steamships,  sailing  vessels, 
and  schools  of  porpoises,  which  are  the  usual  variations 
of  the  monotony  of  the  waterscape — but  also  very  uncom- 
fortable. Moreover,  the  wind  made  the  sea  so  rough  at 
times  that  the  tables  in  the  dining  saloon  were  more  than 
once  quite  "sparsely  settled,"  not  a  few  people  "wanted 
the  earth,"  and  longed  for  terra  firma  —  less  terror  and 
more  firmer,  as  a  friend  of  mine  once  put  it.  One  or  two 
even  of  our  own  party,  who,  though  good  "tar  heels,"  are 
not  equally  good  "tars,"  paid  reluctant  tribute  to  Neptune. 
Reluctant,  did  I  say  ?  Yet  it  was  done  eagerly,  as  though 
the  persons  in  question  "could  not  contain  themselves" 
for  joy,  or  novelty,  or  some  other  emotion.  I  find  it 
difficult  to  write  of  this  curious  little  malady,  which 
baffles  the  skill  of  all  physicians,  with  sufficient  plainness, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  with  sufficient  reserve.  The  most 
delicate  reference  to  it  on  record  was  that  of  a  French- 
man, who,  pale  and  miserable,  was  greeted  by  a  blooming 
Englishman  with  "Good  morning,  monsieur,  have  you 
breakfasted?"  and  replied,  "No,  monsieur,  I  have  not 
breakfasted.  On  the  contrary."  Three  or  four  of  our 
immediate  party,  however,  did  not  miss  a  meal  on  the 
whole  voyage,  but  "held  their  own"  throughout,  and  were 


12  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

able  to  "navigate"  every  day.  Moreover,  While  the  rude 
seas  robbed  us  of  the  exhilaration  which  I  had  always 
heretofore  associated  with  an  ocean  voyage,  we  had  on 
board  many  bright  and  attractive  things  which  went  far 
to  counterbalance  the  effect  of  the  chilly  and  depressing 
weather. 

Life  on  a  German  The  Bremen  is  a  staunch  and  comfortable 
steamship,  ship;  not  one  of  the  Atlantic  greyhounds, 
which  are  built  slender  and  comparatively  light  in  order 
to  great  speed — but  all  the  better  for  that,  as  her  vast  bulk 
and  heavy  cargo  give  her  a  degree  of  steadiness  unknown 
to  the  express  steamers,  and  her  appointments  are  in 
every  way  equal  to  those  of  the  fastest  ships  afloat.  She 
takes  nine  days  for  the  trip  from  New  York  to  Southamp- 
ton, and  in  ordinary  weather  that  is  none  too  long  for  the 
average  passenger.  It  was  no  fault  of  hers  that  our 
journey  was  not  a  comfortable  one  throughout.  It  could 
not  have  been  so  in  any  ship  with  such  weather  as  we  had 
the  misfortune  to  encounter.  Of  course,  everything  on 
board  is  German.  The  stewards  can  speak  enough  Eng- 
lish for  all  necessary  purposes,  though  one  of  them,  when 
asked  a  question  by  a  member  of  our  party,  made  the 
naive  reply,  "I  do  not  hear  well  in  English."  One  is  soon 
initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  marks  and  pfennigs,  and 
begins  to  pick  up  sundry  guttural  German  words  and 
phrases.  Being  German,  of  course  the  ship  has  plenty  of 
music,  a  cornet  band  discoursing  lively  airs  on  deck  about 
the  middle  of  every  forenoon,  and  a  string  band  playing 
during  the  dinner  hour  in  the  saloon,  while  the  passengers 
munch  in  unison.  The  catering  department  is  organized 
on  the  assumption  that  the  chief  occupation  of  people  on 
shipboard  is  eating,  sandwiches  and  hot  beef  tea  being 
served  on  deck  in  the  forenoon,  and  tea  and  biscuits  of 
various  kinds  in  the  afternoon,  in  addition  to  the  three 


A  COLD  SUMMER  VOYAGE.  13 

very  elaborate  set  meals  in  the  saloon,  the  lavish  abund- 
ance of  which  is  provoking  to  the  squeamish  passenger. 
A  Teutonic  bugler,  with  fully  developed  lungs,  gives  the 
signals  for  the  meals.  On  Sunday  morning  the  passen- 
gers are  wakened  by  the  strains  of  Luther's  "Ein  feste 
burg  1st  unser  Gott."  The  management  of  the  ship 
throughout  is  characterized  by  German  thoroughness,  and 
the  organization  and  discipline  are  perfect. 

Shuffle  board,  ring  pitching,  and  other  deck  games, 
and  letter-writing,  chess,  and  other  amusements  indoors, 
more  or  less  innocent,  serve  to  while  away  part  of  the 
time.  Ordinarily,  reading  is  my  main  resource  in  this 
way,  but  the  cold  weather  and  searching  draughts,  making 
it  impossible  to  find  a  reasonably  comfortable  spot  to  sit 
down  in  with  a  book,  reduced  my  reading  on  this  trip  to  a 
minimum. 

The  unification  Various  nationalities  were  represented  in 
of  the  world,  our  ship's  company,  the  Anglo-Saxon  pre- 
dominating. This  reminds  me  of  the  fact  that  the  ocean 
has  played  no  small  part  in  the  unification  of  the  world  as 
thus  far  accomplished.  Nothing,  perhaps,  distinguishes 
the  modern  world  more  sharply  from  the  ancient  than  its 
views  of  the  ocean.  To  the  ancients  the  sea  was  a  mystery 
and  a  terror ;  it  was  a  barrier,  it  separated  men.  To  the 
moderns  the  sea  is  a  highway,  a  means  of  communication, 
it  unites  men.  The  nearest  approach  to  a  unification  of 
the  race  in  ancient  times  was  effected  by  the  law  of  the 
Roman  and  the  language  of  the  Greek.  The  unifying 
force  to-day  is  the  Anglo-Saxon,  who  to  the  genius  of  the 
Roman  for  conquest  and  government,  and  to  the  genius 
of  the  Greek  for  letters  and  art,  has  added  the  genius  of 
the  Phoenician  for  commerce  and  the  genius  of  the  He- 
brew for  religion.  Here  we  touch  the  secret  of  his  ascen- 
dancy. The  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  is  Christian.  His 


14  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

language  is  becoming  the  universal  language.  His  insti- 
tutions are  becoming  the  universal  institutions.  His 
ships  carry  the  passengers  and  produce  of  the  world. 
His  capital  dominates  commerce.  London  is  the 
clearing-house  of  the  world.  Will  this  unification  con- 
tinue? Will  it  endure?  It  will  if  the  religion  to  which 
the  Anglo-Saxon  owes  his  preeminence  remains  preemi- 
nent in  his  civilization.  The  brotherhood  of  man  —  how 
else  shall  it  ever  be  fully  and  permanently  brought  about, 
except  through  men's  knowledge  of  the  Fatherhood  of 
God?  And  how  can  'the  Fatherhood  of  God  ever  be 
known  except  through  him  who  taught  us  to  say,  "Our 
Father,"  and  of  whom  the  Father  said,  "This  is  my  be- 
loved Son  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased.  Hear  ye  him?" 
It  is  no  accident  that  the  nations  which  have  most  rever- 
ently heeded  this  divine  command,  the  nations  which  are 
most  truly  Christian,  are  the  nations  which  have  hitherto 
stood  in  the  forefront  of  the  foremost  civilizations  of  man- 
kind, and  are  the  nations  which  now  hold  the  future. 

"Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun 
Does  his  successive  journeys  run, 
His  kingdom  stretch  from  shore  to  shore 
Till  moons  shall  wax  and  wane  no  more." 

The  force  which  will  bind  all  men  in  a  real  and  per- 
manent union  is  no  mere  knowledge  of  navigation,  nor  is 
it  Anglo-Saxon  commerce,  laws,  or  language;  it  is  the 
Christian  religion. 

Airs  wen  That  The  latter  P^rt  of  our  voyage  was  less  try- 
Ends  well.  ing  than  the  earlier,  and  the  days  were  gen- 
erally brighter,  though  still  cold.  Yet  all  were  glad  when 
one  night,  about  nine  o'clock,  the  intermittent  gleam  of 
the  lighthouse  on  the  Scilly  Islands  came  into  view,  assur- 
ing us  that  the  voyage  would  soon  be  ended.  Next  morn- 


A  COLD  SUMMER  VOYAGE.  15 

ing  we  were  steaming  along  the  picturesque  south  coast 
of  England,  with  the  white  chalk  cliffs  and  velvety  green 
downs  in  plain  view  through  the  tender  blue  haze,  the 
water  was  quieter  and  the  weather  warmer,  and  in  a  few 
hours  more  we  entered  The  Solent,  passing  on  our  right, 
almost  within  a  stone's  throw,  "The  Needles,"  three  white, 
pointed  rocks  of  chalk,  at  the  western  extremity  of  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  which  rest  on  dark  colored  bases  and  spring 
abruptly  from  the  sea  to  a  height  of  a  hundred  feet,  and 
which  are  in  striking  contrast  with  the  vertically  striped 
cliffs  of  red,  yellow,  green,  and  grey  sandstone  behind 
them. 

At  last  the  great  engines  cease  their  throbbing  for  the 
first  time  in  nine  days,  the  tender  comes  alongside  for 
the  passengers  bound  for  Great  Britain,  and  in  another 
half  hour  we  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  England,  in  the  ancient 
city  of  Southampton. 


CHAPTER  II. 
A  VISIT  TO  THE  TOWN  OF  DR.  ISAAC  WATTS. 

SOUTHAMPTON,  ENGLAND,  June  28,  1902. 

SOUTHAMPTON,  the  ancient  seaport  at  which  travel- 
lers to  Europe  by  the  steamships  of  the  North  Ger- 
man Lloyd  line  first  set  foot  on  British  soil,  is  a  place  of 
considerable  interest  at  any  time,  but  was  especially  attrac- 
tive to  us  after  a  cold  and  uncomfortable  voyage  across 
the  Atlantic.  The  day  of  our  arrival  was  fine,  with  blue 
sky  and  genial  sunshine,  the  water  of  the  Solent,  between 
the  Isle  of  Wight  and  the  mainland,  was  free  from  the 
ocean  swell,  and  Southampton  Water  was  quieter  still,  so 
we  landed  with  thankful  hearts  and  rising  spirits.  The 
city,  which  is  a  place  of  some  70,000  inhabitants,  owes  its 
importance  to  its  sheltered  harbor  and  to  the  phenomenon 
of  double  tides,  which  prolong  high  water  for  two  hours. 
„.  .  .  This  mention  of  the  tides  reminds  me  to  say 

Historical 

interest  of       that  Southampton  is  the  place  where  Canute 

Southampton.  the   Dang    jg    ^   ^  haye   giy€n   hig   f^^g 

rebuke  to  his  flattering  courtiers.    All  the  children  who 
have  read  any  English  history  will  recall  the  story. 

They  are  familiar,  too,  with  the  hard-hearted  action 
of  William  the  Conqueror  in  laying  waste  an  area  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  square  miles  in  this  neighborhood  for 
the  purpose  of  making  a  hunting  ground,  which  has  ever 
since  been  known  as  the  New  Forest,  and  which  still 
stretches  westward  from  Southampton  Water.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  the  Conqueror's  son  and  successor, 
William  Rufus,  met  his  death  here,  being  found  one  day 
in  these  woods  with  an  arrow  through  his  heart.  That 


THE  TOWN  OF  DR.  ISAAC  WATTS.         17 

arrow  may  have  been  shot  by  one  of  the  many  peasants 
who  had  been  driven  from  their  homes  when  the  New 
Forest  was  made,  though  most  writers  attribute  the  deed, 
without  sufficient  proof,  to  a  gentleman  named  Walter 
Tyrrell.  At  any  rate,  here  William  Rufus  was  killed,  and 
at  Winchester,  thirteen  miles  from  Southampton,  he  was 
buried  under  the  floor  of  the  cathedral,  "many  looking  on 
and  few  grieving,"  as  the  old  chronicler  says. 

Of  still  more  interest  to  young  readers,  especially  boys, 
who  are  familiar  with  Sir  Walter  Scott's  stories,  The 
Talisman  and  Ivanhoe,  is  the  fact  that  the  Crusaders 
under  Richard  the  Lion  Hearted,  sailed  from  Southamp- 
ton for  the  Holy  Land.  That  was  in  1189. 

In  the  summer  of  1620,  however,  a  far  more  important 
expedition,  though  far  less  spectacular,  was  fitted  out  at 
Southampton  by  the  hiring  of  a  ship  here  called  the  May- 
nower,  in  which  shortly  afterwards  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
sailed  for  the  New  World. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  Southampton  is  a  place  of  no 
small  historical  interest,  to  say  nothing  of  its  associations 
with  Edward  III.,  Henry  V.,  and  Charles  I.,  or  its  being 
the  birthplace  of  Sir  John  E.  Millais,  the  artist,  or  of  its 
having  fine  statues  of  Lord  Palmerston  and  "Chinese" 
Gordon. 

chief  Distinction  But  ^  was  not  on  account  of  any  of  these 
of  the  Town.  things  that  we  determined  to  give  to  this 
place  the  first  few  hours  we  were  to  spend  in  England. 
The  special  reason  for  our  interest  in  Southampton  is  that 
it  was  the  birthplace  and  residence  of  the  greatest  hymn 
writer  that  ever  lived,  a  man  of  totally  different  physique, 
character,  gifts,  and  influence  from  the  able,  but  bloody 
kings  with  whose  names  the  earlier  history  of  the  place 
is  associated,  a  small,  delicate,  scholarly,  Christian  man, 
of  lovely  spirit,  who,  by  exactly  antipodal  methods,  has 


18  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

established  a  wider,  more  real,  more  beneficent,  and  more 
lasting  reign  over  human  hearts  than  William  or  Richard 
were  able  to  achieve  —  'the  Rev.  Isaac  Watts,  D.  D., 
whose  simpler  pieces  for  children  have  become  household 
words  throughout  the  English-speaking  world,  such  as, 
"Hush,  my  dear,  lie  still  and  slumber,"  "Let  dogs  delight 
to  bark  and  bite,"  "How  doth  the  little  busy  bee  improve 
each  shining  hour,"  etc.,  and  who,  as  even  a  supercilious 
and  grudging  critic  like  Matthew  Arnold  admitted,  wrote 
the  finest  hymn  in  the  English  language,  "When  I  survey 
the  wondrous  cross,"  and  very  many  others  of  scarcely 
inferior  merit. 

He  was  the  author  of  various  able  treatises  on  phil- 
osophy and  theology,  but  it  was  the  thought  of  what  he 
had  done  for  the  world  by  his  hymns  that  caused  us  to 
stop  at  Southampton.  So,  mounting  the  winding  stair- 
way to  the  top  of  the  "double-decker"  electric  tram  car, 
much  better  adapted  to  sight-seeing  than  our  single-story 
street  cars  in  America,  we  were  carried  smoothly  and 
quickly  wp  the  bright  and  busy  High  Street,  gaily  deco- 
rated for  the  Coronation,  and  in  a  few  minutes  passed 
under  the  great  stone  arch  of  the  Bar  Gate,  the  most 
interesting  portion  of  the  ancient  city  wall.  The  modern 
city,  of  course,  stretches  far  beyond  the  walls,  street  after 
street  of  clean  and  attractive  houses,  with  a  profusion  of 
brilliant  flowers  and  neatly  trimmed  greenery,  shut  in 
from  the  street,  in  many  cases,  by  high  stone  walls,  over 
which,  however,  we  can  easily  see  from  our  elevated 
position. 

Presently,  in  the  centre  of  a  small  park,  which  opens 
on  the  left  with  velvety  grass  and  fine  trees,  we  see  the 
object  of  our  search,  a  marble  statue  of  a  very  small  and 
wizened  man,  of  benevolent  face  and  venerable  appear- 
ance, with  a  Bible  in  his  hand,  and  on  the  pedestal  in  bold 


THE  TOWN  OF  DR.  ISAAC  WATTS.         19 

_,     .    ,  letters  the  name,  "REV.  ISAAC  WATTS.  D.D." 

Sketch  of  the 

Great  Hymn-  He  was  born  in  1674,  was  devoted  to  books 
from  his  infancy,  and  began  to  learn  Latin 
when  four  years  old.  Afterwards,  as  a  youth  he  became 
so  proficient  at  school  that  friends  proposed  to  provide 
for  his  support  at  the  university  (he  was  the  eldest  of  nine 
children,  and  the  family,  while  not  indigent,  was  not  rich), 
but  he  declined  the  offer  because  he  could  not  conscien- 
tiously belong  to  the  Church  of  England.  He  cast  in  his 
lot  with  the  Dissenters,  and  became  one  of  the  promoters 
of  that  mighty  and  beneficent  force  in  English  religious 
and  political  life  known  as  "the  Nonconformist  Con- 
science." That  his  education  did  not  suffer  from  the 
Choice  he  then  made  is  clear  from  his  later  work.  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson,  who  was  a  stiff  Churdhman,  with  no 
love  for  Dissenters  in  general,  is  constrained,  in  his  work 
on  English  Poets,  to  pay  a  warm  tribute  to  Dr.  Watts' 
remarkable  attainments,  and  says  it  was  with  great  pro- 
priety that  in  1728  he  received  from  Edinburgh  and 
Aberdeen  an  unsolicited  diploma,  by  which  he  became  a 
doctor  of  divinity.  Dr.  Johnson  adds  a  remark,  which  is 
commended  to  the  earnest  attention  of  American  colleges, 
which  have  done  so  much  to  bring  honorary  degrees  into 
contempt  by  their  promiscuous  bestowment,  "Academical 
honors  would  have  more  value,  if  they  were  always  be- 
stowed with  equal  judgment."  He  says  further  that  Dr. 
Watts  was  one  of  the  first  authors  that  taught  the  Dissen- 
ters to  court  attention  by  the  graces  of  language.  "What- 
ever they  had  among  them  before,  whether  of  learning  or 
acuteness,  was  commonly  obscured  and  blunted  by  coarse- 
ness and  inelegance  of  style.  He  showed  them  that  zeal 
and  purity  might  be  expressed  and  enforced  by  polished 
diction." 

Of  his  talents  in   general   the   same  .discriminating 


20.  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

writer  says  that  "perhaps  there  was  nothing  in  which  he 
would  not  have  excelled  if  he  had  not  divided  his  powers 
to  different  pursuits,"  and  of  his  character,  that  he  ad- 
mired Dr.  Watts'  meekness  of  opposition  and  mildness  of 
censure  in  theological  discussion  (qualities  which  no  one 
could  attribute  to  Dr.  Johnson  himself),  and  that  it  was 
not  only  in  his  book,  but  in  his  mind,  that  orthodoxy  was 
united  with  charity.  Dr.  Johnson  concludes  his  appre- 
ciation of  him  with  this  remark,  "Happy  will  be  that 
reader  whose  mind  is  disposed,  by  his  verses  or  his  prose, 
to  imitate  him  in  all  but  his  nonconformity,"  which  shows 
both  his  exalted  estimate  of  the  man  and  his  amusing 
dislike  of  the  Dissenter.  But  in  nothing  was  the  greatness 
of  Dr.  Watts'  character  more  clearly  shown  than  in  his 
nonconformity;  and  his  countrymen  have  continued  to 
take  his  view  of  that  matter  in  ever-increasing  numbers, 
so  that  now  more  than  half  of  the  English  people  are  non- 
conformists. But  of  that  I  shall  have  something  to  say  at 
another  time. 


CHAPTER  III. 
SALISBURY,  SARUM,  AND  STONEHENGE. 

SALISBURY,  June  30,  1902. 

FOR  one  who  visits  England  as  a  student  of  history 
there  is  hardly  a  better  starting  point  than  South- 
ampton, as  the  most  impressive  of  the  Druidical  and 
Roman  remains  in  Great  Britain  are  less  than  forty  miles 
away,  the  capital  city  of  Alfred  the  Great  is  only  twelve 
miles  distant,  the  whole  surrounding  region  is  closely 
associated  with  the  Saxon,  Danish,  Norman  and  Plan- 
tagenet  kings,  and  two  of  the  most  interesting  cathedrals 
in  England  are  within  easy  reach  by  rail.  One  of  these 
cathedral  towns,  Salisbury,  we  selected  as  a  suitable  place 
in  which  to  spend  quietly  our  first  Sunday  in  the  Old 
World,  having  landed  at  Southampton  Saturday  after- 
noon. So,  after  we  had  given  a  few  hours  to  the  principal 
sights  of  Southampton,  we  took  a  train  for  Salisbury, 
twenty-nine  miles  distant,  and,  after  a  short  and  delightful 
journey  through  the  tranquil  rural  scenery,  which  is  char- 
acteristic of  Southern  England,  reached  our  destination" 
refreshed  rather  than  wearied  by  our  experiences  since 
leaving  the  ship. 

We  recognized  the  place,  even  before  our 

A  Fascinating 

cathedral       train  stopped,  by  the  cathedral  spire,  which 
Town.  is  4o6  feet  hjgh>  the  i0fti€st  in  England,  and 

which  dominates  all  views  of  the  town.  This  richly 
adorned  spire  is  one  of  three  things  which  entitles  this 
cathedral  to  special  attention,  the  other  two  being,  first,  its 
lovely  close,  unsurpassed  in  size  and  beauty,  a  glorious 
expanse  of  velvety  sward,  shaded  by  lofty  trees;  and 


22  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

secondly,  the  uniformity  and  harmony  of  its  architecture, 
making  it  the  most  symmetrical  and  graceful  of  all  Eng- 
lish cathedrals.  The  interior  is  less  interesting,  having 
no  wealth  of  monuments  like  Winchester,  Westminster, 
and  St.  Paul's,  and  no  profusion  of  stained  glass  windows 
like  York. 

On  Sunday  we  attended  service  in  the  cathedral,  and 
found  it  formal,  cold  and  unsatisfying.  I  yield  to  no  man 
in  my  admiration  of  the  beauty  of  these  vast  and  venerable 
cathedrals,  but  they  have  been  in  some  respects  a  hin- 
drance to  vital  religion,  as  I  shall  endeavor  to  show  in  a 
later  letter.  This  one  at  Salisbury  was  erected  in  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  so  that  for  six  hundred 
and  fifty  years  it  has  been  used  continuously  as  a  place  of 
Christian  worship,  first  Romish  and  now  Anglican. 

But  on  Monday  we  made  an  excursion  which  took  us 
back  to  a  still  more  remote  antiquity.  One  mile  to  the 
north  of  Salisbury  at  Old  Sarum  (a  name  well  known  to 
students  of  English  politics  as  that  of  the  "rotten  bor- 
ough," which  till  1832  had  the  privilege  of  sending  two 
members  to  Parliament,  though  without  a  single  inhabi- 
tant), crowning  a  great  hill  which  commands  the  sur- 
rounding country  for  miles,  stands  the  vast,  grass-clad 
earthworks  of  an  ancient  Roman  fortress,  the  largest 
entrenched  camp  in  the  kingdom.  That  is  old,  but  we  are 
bound  for  something  older  still,  and  so  we  continue  our 
drive  northwards. 

One  great  charm  of  the  summer  in  Great  Britain  is  the 
cool  weather.  The  English  people  never  have  to  endure 
the  withering  heats  to  which  we  are  subjected  in 
America.  This  year  it  has  been  much  cooler  even  than 
usual.  So,  as  we  drive  on  through  the  June  day,  although 
the  sun  is  shining  brightly,  the  air  is  bracing  and  exhilar- 
ating. 


SALISBURY,  SARUM,  STONEHENGE.       23 
Another    marked    difference   between    this 

Rural  Scenery 

in  southern  country  and  most  parts  of  ours  is  the  extra- 
Kneiand.  ordinary  finish  of  the  landscape,  due  to 
scantiness  of  forests,  absence  of  undergrowth,  thorough- 
nes  of  tillage,  and  especially  the  luxuriance  and  smooth- 
ness of  the  turf.  The  quiet  beauty  of  rural  England  has  a 
perpetual  charm.  When  I  was  here  some  years  ago  it  was 
May,  the  hawthorn  hedges  were  in  bloom,  and  the  whole 
country  was  robed  in  tender  green.  Before  landing  this 
time  I  felt  some  regret  that  we  should  not  see  it  in  the 
same  lovely  attire,  thinking  of  the  difference  between 
early  May  and  late  June  in  America.  But  I  find  it  even 
more  beautiful  than  when  I  first  saw  it.  The  farmers 
were  cutting  the  lush  grass  in  some  places,  impregnating 
the  air  with  the  delicious  fragrance  of  new-mown  hay. 
In  other  fields  the  wheat  was  standing  thick,  with  here 
and  there  a  blaze  of  scarlet  poppies,  sometimes  an  acre 
or  two  in  extent,  a  solid  mass  of  brilliant  red,  no  green  or 
other  color  visible  at  all.  Still  prettier,  if  possible,  are  the 
scattered  poppy  blooms  in  a  field  of  half  ripe  grain,  look- 
ing like  ruby  bubbles  on  a  gently  moving,  sun-lit  sea. 

The  youngsters  in  our  party  are  interested  to  see 
horses  hitched  tandem  to  the  wide  hay  wains  in  the  fields, 
and  to  observe  that  when  we  meet  a  double  team  in  the 
road,  instead  of  being  harnessed  as  two  horses  are  with 
us,  on  each  side  of  a  tongue,  'here  each  of  the  two  horses 
is  in  his  own  pair  of  shafts.  Nor  are  they  slow  to  observe 
that  teams  always  turn  to  the  left  in  passing  each  other, 
instead  of  to  the  right  as  with  us,  and  the  same  rule  is 
observed  in  the  running  of  trains  on  a  double  track  rail- 
way. 

No  frame  houses  are  to  be  seen  in  town  or  country. 
We  have  not  seen  a  wooden  house  since  we  landed.  All 
are  of  brick  or  stone,  though  many  of  them  in  the  country 


24  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

are  covered  with  thatch,  sometimes  with  clay  tiles.  But 
slate  is  more  and  more  superseding  these  old-fashioned 
materials.  This  does  not  promote  the  cottager's  comfort. 
Slate  roofs  are  hotter  in  summer  and  colder  in  winter  than 
those  of  straw,  and,  of  course,  too,  they  are  far  less  pic- 
turesque. I  observe  that  many  farmers  thatch  even  their 
stone  and  brick  fences  to  prevent  the  water  from  coming 
in  and  freezing,  to  the  injury  of  the  masonry.  No  wooden 
fences  are  seen,  and  few  of  wire.  They  are  either  living 
hedges  of  thorn  or  privet  or  the  like,  or  they  are  walls  of 
stone  or  brick.  In  short,  the  improvements  look  more 
substantial  than  ours,  the  agricultural  methods  more 
thorough,  the  country  more  finished,  and,  I  should  think, 
more  comfortable  to  live  in,  in  the  material  sense.  Very 
striking  is  the  universal  love  of  flowers.  Every  little 
village  yard,  if  but  three  or  four  feet  wide,  and  every 
cottage  window,  however  humble,  has  its  rows  of  brilliant 
geraniums,  and  other  ornamental  plants, 
impressiveness  And  now>  a^ter  a  drive  of  nine  miles,  we 
ofstonehenge.  reach  Salisbury  Plain,  a  name  familiar  to 
me  from  early  boyhood  from  the  title  of  a  little  book  that 
used  to  be  read  in  many  homes,  The  Shepherd  of  Salis- 
bury Plain.  As  we  came  up,  sure  enough,  there  was  a 
shepherd  on  one  of  the  green  slopes,  with  his  flock  and  his 
shepherd  dog.  We  give  them  but  a  glance,  however,  for 
our  attention  is  instantly  claimed  by  the  object  which  we 
have  come  so  far  to  see,  Stonehenge,  "the  most  imposing 
megalolithic  monument  in  Britain,"  a  group  of  great 
stones  which  seem  originally  to  have  been  arranged  in 
two  concentric  circles  enclosing  two  ellipses,  but  some  are 
now  fallen.  Of  the  outer  circle,  which  was  one  hundred 
feer  in  diameter,  seventeen  stones  are  still  standing,  with 
six  of  the  great  cap-stones  over  them.  The  largest  up- 
rights of  the  whole  group,  those  near  the  centre  of  the 


SALISBURY,  SARUM,  STONEHENGE.       25 

circle,  were  twenty-two  and  a  half  feet  high,  and  the 
transverse  blocks  were  three  and  a  half  feet  thick.  These 
are,  therefore,  quite  large  stones,  but  it  is  not  their  size 
that  gives  them  their  interest.  The  ancient  Egyptians 
handled  much  larger  stones  than  these.  It  is  their  an- 
tiquity, and  the  mystery,  still  unsolved,  as  to  the  purpose 
for  which  they  were  erected.  Were  they  placed  here  by 
the  Druids?  If  so,  for  what  purpose?  The  name  does 
not  'help  us,  Stonehenge  being  but  a  corruption  of  the 
Saxon  name,  meaning  "hanging  stones."  Were  they  in- 
tended for  a  temple  of  the  sun,  or  a  calendar  in  stone  for 
the  measurement  of  the  solar  year,  or  a  huge  gallows  on 
which  defeated  enemies  were  hung  in  honor  of  Woden, 
or  a  sepulchral  circle  connected  with  the  burial  of  the 
dead?  No  positive  answer  can  be  given,  but  the  last 
mentioned  view  is  now  regarded  as  the  most  probable, 
and  is  confirmed  by  the  existence  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  great  turf-covered  barrows,  or  burial  places.  These 
barrows  are  of  the  Bronze  Age,  and  to  this  same  remote 
period  Stonehenge  itself  is  referred  by  the  best  authori- 
ties. 

The  present  owner  of  Salisbury  Plain  has  recently 
enclosed  Stonehenge  with  a  wire  fence  and  charges  an 
admission  fee  of  a  shilling.  The  public  resents  this  in  the 
case  of  a  unique  and  world-renowned  monument,  w'hich 
for  ages  has  stood  in  the  open,  freely  accessible  to  all,  and 
there  was  not  a  little  satisfaction  at  finding  that,  as  a  sort 
of  road  ran  along  within  a  few  feet  of  it,  and  as  the 
closing  or  moving  of  this  thoroughfare  could  not  be  per- 
mitted by  the  county  authorities,  the  fence  in  question 
had  to  run  so  close  to  the  famous  cromlech,  after  all,  that 
the  proposed  exclusion  of  the  public  without  payment  of  a 
fee  has  amounted  to  very  little.  Visitors  can  come  so 
near,  and  can  get  so  good  a  view  of  all  that  is  to 
3 


26  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

be  seen  that  but  few  pay  the  fee  and  go  inside  the  en- 
closure. 

We  return  to  Salisbury  by  a  different  road, 

Other  Thines  of 

interest  about  which  takes  us  for  miles  through  the  mea- 
saiisbury.  dows  of  one  of  those  "sweet  and  fishful 
rivers,"  which  add  so  much  to  the  quiet  charm  of  the 
scenery,  placid  and  clear,  flowing  softly  not  only  between 
grassy  banks  but  over  grassy  beds,  the  grass  growing 
luxuriantly  from  the  bottom,  and  being  cut  from  the 
stream  by  the  hay  harvesters,  as  though  it  were  on  the 
open  meadow. 

On  reaching  the  town,  I  went  to  the  Market  Square 
to  see  the  bronze  statue  of  a  man  for  whom  I  had  always 
felt  respect  and  admiration  since  studying  his  work  on 
'Political  Economy  when  I  was  a  student  in  college,  Mr. 
Fawcett,  a  talented  native  of  this  place,  who,  though  he 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  sight  early  in  life,  by  the 
accidental  discharge  of  a  gun  in  the  hands  of  his  own 
father,  nevertheless  became  a  student,  a  professor,  an 
author,  a  man  of  affairs,  a  member  of  Parliament,  and 
Postmaster-General  of  Great  Britain  —  a  fine  example  of 
the  triumph  of  character  and  will  over  grievous  limita- 
tions. 

It  added  to  the  interest  of  our  visit  to  Salisbury,  and 
especially  of  our  walk  through  the  lovely  grounds  of  the 
Bishop's  Palace,  to  see  this  dignitary  of  the  Church  of 
England  in  his  clerical  garb,  with  apron,  knee  breeches, 
and  all,  except  that  he  was  bareheaded,  romping  de- 
lightedly on  the  lawn  with  a  little  girl,  probably  his  grand- 
daughter, and  to  recollect  that  the  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, after  bringing  the  wealth  of  his  undoubted  scholar- 
ship to  his  recent  book,  The  Ministry  of  Grace,  had  de- 
clared, like  Dean  Stanley,  Bishop  Lightfoot  and  Dean 
Milman,  that  "throughout  the  early  church,  even  at  Rome, 


SALISBURY,  SARUM,  STONEHENGE.       27 

and  Alexandria,  down  to  the  third  century,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  church  was  Presbyterian,"  thus  going  even 
farther  than  Stanley,  who  says  that  "nothing  like  modern 
Episcopacy  existed  before  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century." 

It  interested  us  also  to  recall  that  Addison,  Fielding, 
and  Bishop  Burnet  had  resided  here.  So,  considering 
these  things,  and  those  above  mentioned,  we  all  left  Salis- 
bury reluctantly,  declaring  with  one  accord  that  it  was  an 
exceedingly  interesting  place,  and  wondering  whether 
even  Winchester  could  equal  it. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WINCHESTER  WORTHIES:   ALFRED  THE   GREAT,   IZAAK 
WALTON,  AND  THOMAS  KEN. 

WINCHESTER,  July  2,  1902. 

UNQUESTIONABLY  the  most  interesting  town  in 
the  south  of  England  to  a  student  of  history  is 
Winchester.     It  was  the  ancient  capital  of  the  kingdom, 

Memorials  of  Kings,  and  teems  with  memories  of  Alfred  the 
Good  and  Bad.  Great,  Canute,  William  the  Conqueror, 
and  many  of  their  successors.  Thorneycroft's  fine  bronze 
statue  of  Alfred  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  High  Street, 
and  instantly  catches  the  eye  of  any  one  looking  up  cr 
down  this  central  thoroughfare.  As  we  paused  in  front 
of  it  for  a  few  moments,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing 
two  little  boys  from  America,  who  are  travelling  with  me, 
recall  Alfred's  diligence  as  a  student,  and  his  winning  of 
the  book  offered  by  his  mother  as  a  prize ;  his  invention 
of  a  candle  chronometer,  and  of  the  lanthorn,  as  well  as 
the  familiar  incident  of  the  scolding  given  him  by  the 
neatherd's  wife  for  his  negligence  in  allowing  her  cakes 
to  burn.  The  purity  of  his  character,  his  self-sacrificing 
labors  for  his  people,  and  the  righteousness  and  prosperity 
of  his  reign  have  caused  him  to  shine  like  a  star  in  the 
long  succession  of  English  kings,  who  have  too  often  been 
selfish,  grasping,  licentious  or  tyrannical. 

For  example,  in  Winchester  Cathedral,  close  at  hand, 
lie  the  remains  of  Hardicanute,  the  last  Danish  monarch, 
who  died  of  excessive  drinking.  The  fact  that  a  man  .s 
buried  in  a  cathedral  argues  nothing  here  as  to  his  piety. 
If  he  wore  the  crown,  or  won  battles,  or  wrote  poems,  he 


WINCHESTER  WORTHIES.  29 

is  given  a  place  in  God's  house,  regardless  of  his  char- 
acter. 

But,  besides  men  like  Hardicanu'te  or  William  Rufus, 
Winchester  Cathedral  boasts  the  possession  of  mortuary 
chests  containing  the  bones  of  Canute,  Egbert,  Ethelwulf, 
and  other  kings.  There  is  a  monumental  brass  on  the 
wall  in  memory  of  Jane  Austen  the  novelist,  who  is 
buried  under  the  pavement. 

Memorial  of  the  But  by  far  tne  most  interesting  thing  of 
Gentle  Fisherman,  this  kind  in  the  cathedral,  is  the  floor 
slab  which  marks  the  resting  place  of  Izaak  Walton,  the 
Prince  of  Fishermen  (1593-1683),  and  the  author  of  The 
Compleat  Angler,  concerning  which  it  has  been  truthfully 
said  that  Walton  "hooked  a  mUdi  bigger  fish  that  he 
angled  for"  when  he  offered  his  quaint  treatise  to  the 
public.  There  is  hardly  a  name  in  our  literature,  even  of 
the  first  rank,  whose  immortality  is  more  secure,  or  whose 
personality  is  the  subject  of  a  more  devoted  cult.  Not 
only  is  he  the  sacer  vates  of  a  considerable  sect  in  the 
religion  of  recreation,  but  multitudes  who  have  never  put 
a  worm  on  a  hook  — even  on  a  fly-hook  —  have  been 
caught  and  securely  'held  by  his  picture  of  the  delights  of 
the  gentle  craft  and  his  easy,  leisurely  transcript  of  his 
own  simple,  peaceable,  loving,  and  amusing  character." 
When,  on  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war,  he  retired  from 
business  as  milliner  for  men  in  London,  he  went  to  a  place 
in  the  country  which  he  had  bought,  but  we  are  told  that 
he  spent  most  of  his  time  "in  the  families  of  the  eminent 
clergymen  of  England,  of  whom  he  was  much  beloved." 
He  married  twice,  both  wives  being  of  distinguished 
clerical  connection,  the  second,  Anne  Ken,  sister  of 
Thomas  Ken,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells.  Of 
Thomas  Ken  we  shall  have  something  in  particular  to  say 
presently.  As  we  strolled,  ^fter  supper,  along  the  banks 


30  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

of  the  Itchen,  from  whose  clear  and  grassy  waters  Walton 
himself  had  drawn  so  many  fish,  it  was  interesting  to 
come  upon  anglers  plying  his  beloved  vocation.  By  the 
way,  long  before  the  time  of  Walton,  there  were  people 
at  Winchester  who  were  fond  of  fish,  and  oysters,  too. 
We  read  that,  before  the  Reformation,  the  monks  of 
Netley  Abbey,  twelve  miles  distant,  were  wont  to  keep 
their  brethren  at  Winchester  supplied  during  Lent  with 
oysters  from  Southampton  Water,  they  in  return  receiving 
forty-two  flagons  of  ale  weekly. 

Enough  has  been  said  above  to  show  that  no  church 
in  Great  Britain,  outside  of  London,  is  richer  in  monu- 
ments than  Winchester  Cathedral.  It  has  also  the  dis- 
tinction of  great  size,  being  556  feet  long,  the  longest  nave 
in  England.  But  the  exterior  is  heavy,  without  a  sug- 
gestion of  the  symmetry  and  grace  of  Salisbury. 
wit  in  win-  The  other  "lion"  of  Winchester,  also,  has  a 
Chester  College,  very  uninviting  and  even  forbidding  exte- 
rior. This  is  the  ancient  College,  a  school  for  boys,  where 
Alfred  himself  is  said  to  have  been  educated,  though  Wil- 
liam of  Wykeham  refounded  it  in  1382.  The  front  of  it 
looks  like  a  prison,  but  within  the  quadrangles,  and 
stretching  far  back  to  the  river,  are  lovely  grounds  covered 
with  grass  as  green  and  smooth  as  a  velvet  carpet.  The 
best  thing  I  saw  here  was  the  following  inscription  on  the 
walls  of  a  school-room,  accompanied  by  the  painted  em- 
blems which  I  mention  below  in  brackets : 

Aut  disce.    [A  mitre  and  crosier,  as  the  expected  rewards 

of  learning.] 
Aut  discede.    [An  inkhorn  and  sword,  the  emblems  of  the 

civil  and  military  professions.] 
Manet  sors  tertia  caedi.     [A  rod.] 

Which  may  be  freely  translated,  "Either  learn,  or  depart 
hence,  or  remain  and  be  chastised,"  though  the  pithy,  allit- 


WINCHESTER  WORTHIES.  31 

era'tive  rendering  in  vogue  among  the  boys  is  better, 
"Work,  or  walk,  or  be  whopped"  (h  silent  in  the  last 
word).  American  boys  would  probably  have  rendered  it, 
"Learn,  or  leave,  or  be  licked." 

The  school  has  revenues  of  nearly  $100,000  per  an- 
num. There  are  420  pupils.  A  number  of  them  were 
having  their  supper  as  we  passed  through  the  dining-hall, 
eating  from  square  beech-wood  trenchers  instead  of 
plates,  talking  in  shrill  tones,  and  nudging  and  pushing 
each  other  just  like  American  boys,  unimpressed  by  the 
fact  that  the  heavy,  narrow  tables  from  which  they  were 
eating  were  five  hundred  years  old.  How  like  boys  it  was 
to  call  the  water  pipe  in  the  quadrangle,  at  which  they 
wash  their  hands  and  faces,  "Moab,"  and  the  place  w'here 
they  blacked  their  shoes,  "Edom,"  because  in  Psalm  Ix.  8, 
it  is  said,  "Moab  is  my  wash-pot,  I  will  cast  my  shoe  over 
Edom." 

A  Lovely  As  we  walked  through  the  ancient  cloisters 

churchman.  we  came  upon  another  characteristically 
boyish  thing,  a  name  cut  on  one  of  the  stone  pillars  in 
clear,  strong  letters  —  "Tho  Ken  1665"  —  and  hardly 
anything  in  Winchester  interested  me  so  much  as  this, 
for  the  boy  who  cut  it  there,  nearly  'two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago,  became  afterwards  the  author  of  what  we  call 
"the  long  metre  doxology,"  four  lines  which  have  been 
sung  more  frequently  than  any  other  four  lines  in  the 
English  language,  and  which  for  generations  to  come  will 
express  the  praise  of  increasing  millions.  This  doxology 
was  written  by  Ken  as  a  concluding  stanza  to  his  famous 
Morning,  Evening  and  Midnight  Hymns,  the  best  known 
of  which,  perhaps,  is  his  evening  hymn,  "Glory  to  thee, 
my  God,  this  night." 

But  there  are  other  reasons  why  it  was  a  pleasure  to 
be  vividly  reminded  of  Ken  at  Winchester.  He  was  a 


32  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

man  of  singularly  modest,  sweet,  and  lovable  disposition. 
Macaulay  says  that  his  character  approached,  "as  near  as 
human  infirmity  permits,  to  the  ideal  perfection  of  Chris- 
tian virtue."  Yet  he  was  no  weakling,  and  on  two  notable 
occasions  he  showed  that,  mild  and  gentle  as  he  was,  he 
was  also  firm  and  fearless. 

When  the  profligate  Charles  II.  was  at  Winchester, 
waiting  for  the  completion  of  his  palace  there,  he  re- 
quested Ken,  then  prebendary  at  Winchester,  to  lend  his 
house  temporarily  to  the  notorious  Nell  Gwynn,  the 
King's  mistress.  Ken  refused  to  let  such  a  person  have 
his  house.  Charles  does  not  seem  to  have  resented  the 
affront,  for  he  afterwards  made  Ken  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells.  It  is  one  of  the  abominations  of  the  English  union 
of  Church  and  State,  that  a  thoroughly  depraved  man  like 
Charles  II.,  if  he  succeeds  to  the  throne,  becomes  ipso 
facto  the  head  of  the  Church  of  England.  By  the  way, 
the  altar  books  in  black  letter  in  Winchester  Cathedral 
were  presented  to  the  church  by  this  same  graceless 
Charles  II.  Things  get  badly  mixed  under  such  a  system 
as  that  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Ken's  Defiance  The  second  occasion  on  which  Ken  showed 

of  james  n.  that,  notwithstanding  the  infelicities  of  the 
national  church,  she  does  have  men  who  will  stand  for 
God  against  the  King  when  necessity  arises,  was  when 
James  II.,  without  calling  Parliament,  issued  what  he 
called  a  declaration  for  liberty  of  conscience,  the  real  aim 
of  which  was  to  put  England  again  under  the  yoke  of 
Romanism,  and  ordered  that  this  declaration  should  be 
read  in  every  cathedral  and  church  in  the  kingdom.  Ken 
and  six  other  bishops  refused,  and  they  were  arrested,  and 
committed  to  the  Tower  of  London.  Instantly  a  blaze  of 
popular  indignation  burst  forth.  Enormous  crowds  as- 
sembled to  see  the  seven  bishops  embark,  the  shore  was 


WINCHESTER  WORTHIES.  33 

covered  with  crowds  of  prostrate  spectators,  who  asked 
their  benediction,  as  did  also  the  very  soldiers  sent  to 
arrest  them.  The  bishops  bore  themselves  well  through- 
out, and,  a  few  days  after,  when  they  were  tried  in  West- 
minster Hall,  and  the  verdict  "Not  guilty"  was  brought 
in,  there  was  a  tumultuous  outburst  of  joy.  Thus  Ken 
bore  his  bold  and  manly  part  in  the  revolution,  which 
finally  swept  the  Stuarts  from  the  throne,  and  delivered 
England,  for  the  time,  from  the  menace  of  Romish 
domination. 

Winchester,  then,  with  her  ancient  cathedral  and  her 
ancient  school,  with  her  Alfred  the  Great,  her  Izaak  Wal- 
ton, and  her  Thomas  Ken,  with  her  wealth  of  heroic,  and 
gentle  and  saintly  memories,  has  given  'is  two  of  the  most 
profitable  days  of  our  sojourn  in  Southern  England. 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  UGLINESS  AND  THE  CHARM  OF  LONDON. 

LONDON,  July  3,  1902. 

VASTNESS  and  dinginess  are  the  two  features  of 
London  which  make  the  deepest  impression  upon 
the  visitor  from  America.    Byron's  description  is  exact  — 

"A  mighty  mass  of  brick,  and  smoke,  and  shipping, 

Dirty  and  dusky,  but  as  wide  as  eye 
Could  reach,  with  here  and  there  a  sail  just  skipping 

In  sight,  then  lost  amid  the  forestry 
Of  masts;  a  wilderness  of  steeples  peeping 

On  tip-toe  through  their  sea-coal  canopy; 
A  huge,  dun  cupola,  like  a  foolscap  crown 
On  a  fool's  head — and  there  is  London  town." 

Up  to  the  time  of  Sir  Richard  Whittington,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  burning  of  coal  in  London  was 
considered  such  a  nuisance  that  it  was  punished  by  death. 
A  dispensation  to  burn  coal  was  first  made  in  favor  of 
Whittington,  and  this  innovation  on  his  part  has  affected 
the  great  city,  of  which  he  was  four  times  Lord  Mayor, 
infinitely  more  than  the  success  of  his  celebrated  venture 
in  bringing  up  and  selling  a  cat,  which  enabled  him  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  other  investments.  Yet  the  story  of  the 
cat  is  known  to  boys  and  girls  the  world  over,  while  the 
story  of  the  coal  is  known  to  comparatively  few,  even  of 
their  elders. 

Coal  serves  the  same  purposes  in  London  that  it  does 
elsewhere,  of  course.  But,  while  elsewhere  it  warms  only 
thousands  of  people,  and  makes  steam  for  only  thousands 
of  factories,  locomotives,  and  steamboats,  here  it  warms 


UGLINESS  AND  CHARM  OF  LONDON.      35 

and  works  for  more  than  five  millions.  The  output  of 
smoke  from  this  unparalleled  consumption  of  coal  is,  of 
course,  something  enormous,  and  when  we  consider  that 
the  weather  itself  is  frequently,  perhaps  I  may  say  gen- 
erally, dull,  heavy  and  thick,  with  an  amount  of  clouds 
and  rain  unknown  to  our  brilliant  American  climate,  it  is 
not  strange  that  the  fogs  of  London  are  the  thickest  and 
most  dangerous  in  the  world,  sometimes  producing  com- 
plete darkness  at  midday,  and  necessitating  the  lighting 
of  the  gas,  as  though  it  were  midnight,  and  at  other  times 
producing  a  peculiar  gloom,  which  is  so  impervious  to 
light  itself  that  the  traffic  of  the  streets  has  to  be  stopped 
for  hours.  Nor  is  it  strange  that  the  city  is  begrimed  to 
an  extraordinary  degree  from  one  end  to  the  other. 
The  esthetic  ^  nave  a  friend  in  America,  whom  I  some- 
value  of  soot,  times  jestingly  call  an  "Anglomaniac," 
because  he  admires  Great  Britain  and  her  belongings  so 
much.  I  once  accused  him  of  trying  to  convince  me  that 
the  sky  was  bluer  and  the  grass  greener  in  Canada  than 
in  the  United  States  —  and  who  speaks  of  the  blackness 
of  the  London  buildings  as  "richness."  It  is  interesting 
to  find  that  he  is  supported  in  this  view  by  some  of  the 
best  writers  on  London.  Hare,  for  instance,  in  speaking 
of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  emphasizes  this  point,  "Sublimely 
impressive  in  its  general  outlines,  it  has  a  peculiar  sooty 
dignity  all  its  own,  which,  externally,  raises  it  immeasure- 
ably  above  the  fresh,  modern-looking  St.  Peter's  at  Rome. 
G.  A.  Sala  says,  in  one  of  his  capital  papers,  that  it  is 
really  the  better  for  'all  the  incense  which  all  the  chimneys 
since  the  time  of  Wren  have  offered  at  its  shrine,  and  are 
still  flinging  up  every  day  from  their  foul  and  grimy 
censers.'  Here  and  there  only  is  the  original  grey  of  the 
stone  seen  through  the  overlaying  blackness."  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne,  too,  says,  "It  is  much  better  than  staring 


36  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

white ;  the  edifice  would  not  be  nearly  so  grand  without 
this  drapery  of  black."  By  the  way,  the  whole  cost  of 
St.  Paul's,  which  was  nearly  four  million  dollars,  was 
paid  by  a  tax  on  every  chaldron  of  coal  brought  into  the 
port  of  London,  "on  which  account  it  is  said  that  the 
cathedral  has  a  special  claim  of  its  own  to  its  smoky 
exterior." 

Whatever  one  may  think  of  these  views,  as  to  the 
aesthetic  value  of  soot  on  great  stone  buildings  like  St. 
Paul's,  it  must  be  admitted  by  all  that  London,  as  a  whole, 
is  intensely  ugly.  Henry  James,  speaking  of  one  of  the 
fashionable  quarters  of  the  city,  says,  "As  you  walk  along 
the  streets,  you  look  up  at  the  brown  brick  house-walls, 
corroded  with  soot  and  fog,  pierced  with  their  straight, 
stiff  window-slits,  and  finished,  by  way  of  cornice,  with  a 
little  black  line  resembling  a  slice  of  curbstone.  There  is 
not  an  accessory,  not  a  touch  of  architectural  fancy,  not 
the  narrowest  concession  to  beauty."  In  the  indictment 
thus  brought  against  one  quarter  of  the  city,  it  will  be 
observed  that  there  are  other  counts  besides  the  soot,  such 
as  the  monotony  and  plainness  of  the  architecture  and  the 
character  of  the  building  materials,  and  in  both  particulars 
London  does  compare  very  unfavorably  with  some  other 
cities. 

There  are,  of  course,  some  very  handsome 

Brick  vs.  Stone.  .      .,  ,.  ,,         -r.    •-•   i      n/r 

stone  buildings,  such  as  the  British  Mu- 
seum, the  new  Parliament  Buildings,  many  of  the 
churches,  and  some  of  the  government  offices  and  private 
residences,  but  most  of  the  houses  are  constructed  of  ugly 
brownish  yellow  brick,  and  capped  with  rigid  rows  of 
chimney  pots.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  English  towns 
in  general,  and  is  one  of  the  most  obvious  points  of  in- 
feriority on  their  part  to  the  cities  and  towns  of  Scotland. 
Of  Glasgow  as  it  was  in  the  eighteenth  century,  then,  of 


UGLINESS  AND  CHARM  OF  LONDON.      37 

course,  but  a  small  place  in  comparison  with  its  present 
size,  Sir  Walter  Scott  wrote,  in  Rob  Roy,  "The  principal 
street  was  broad  and  important,  decorated  with  public 
buildings  of  an  architecture,  rather  striking  than  correct 
in  point  of  taste,  and  running  between  rows  of  tall  houses, 
built  of  stone;  the  fronts  of  which  were  occasionally 
richly  ornamented  with  mason-work  —  a  circumstance 
which  gave  the  street  an  imposing  air  of  dignity  and 
grandeur,  of  which  most  English  towns  are  in  some 
measure  deprived,  by  the  slight,  unsubstantial,  and  perish- 
able quality  and  appearance  of  the  bricks  with  which  they 
are  constructed."  Of  the  later  Glasgow  of  his  time,  Haw- 
thorne said,  "It  is  the  stateliest  city  in  the  kingdom."  The 
adjective  was  well  chosen.  Those  solid,  strong,  stone- 
built  Scotch  cities,  Glasgow,  Edinburgh,  Aberdeen,  and 
others,  are  stately,  as  no  English  cities  of  brick  are  or  can 
be;  though  there  is  also  a  suggestion  of  sombreness  or 
severity  about  them,  which  seems  to  belong  to  that  dour, 
grey  land  of  the  North;  so  that,  after  all,  the  Scottish 
cities  do  not  afford  the  strongest  contrast  to  London's 
dingy  masses  of  brick.  To  find  that,  we  must  look  to 
some  of  the  cities  of  the  Continent,  especially  Paris,  the 
cleanest,  brightest,  and  most  beautiful  of  all  the  great 
capitals  of  the  world.  The  Parisian  climate  is  clearer, 
there  is  less  fog  and  smoke,  the  houses  are  built  of  a  white 
stone  that  gives  the  city  a  singular  fairness  to  the  eye, 
quite  different  from  the  rather  gloomy  greyness  of  the 
Scottish  cities,  and,  of  course,  antipodal  to  the  brick  and 
grime  of  London.  Moreover,  the  streets  of  Paris,  driven 
this  way  and  that  through  squalid  tenement  districts  by 
Baron  Hausmann,  in  his  renovation  of  the  city  thirty  or 
forty  years  ago,  are  broad  and  splendid  thoroughfares, 
abounding  in  pure  air,  bright  sunlight  and  green  trees,  all 
as  different  as  possible  from  the  cramped  and  tortuous 


38  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

streets  and  alleys  of  the  British  metropolis.  "London  has 
had  no  aedile  like  Hausmann."  Few  things  add  so  much 
to  the  attractiveness  of  great  cities  as  handsome  streets 
along  the  water  fronts.  In  Paris,  on  both  sides  of  the 
Seine  throughout  its  entire  course  in  the  city,  are  broad, 
well-paved,  and  well-shaded  Quais,  flanked  by  noble  rows 
of  stone  buildings,  while  in  London  the  Victoria  Embank- 
ment is  almost  the  only  worthy  improvement  along  the 
Thames.  This  Embankment  is  unquestionably  a  fine 
work,  but  as  one  walks  along  the  broad  stone  pavement 
of  it,  the  view  he  gets  on  'the  other  side  of  the  river  is 
made  up  principally  of  dirty  wharves  and  hideous  ware- 
houses. 

In  many  respects,  also,  London  is  untidy.  Orange 
peel,  paper  and  trash  are  much  in  evidence.  Why  should 
there  not  be  street  scavengers  like  those  who  keep  even 
the  small  towns  in  France  and  Germany  quite  free  from 
that  kind  of  litter? 

immensity  and  Strictly  speaking,  London  is  not  a  city,  but, 
Multitude.  as  Madame  de  Stael  called  it,  "a  province 
of  brick,"  and  it  looks  as  though  it  might  become  a  conti- 
nent, for,  though  there  are  already  more  people  in  it  than 
in  the  whole  of  Scotland,  and  more  than  twice  as  many 
as  in  the  whole  of  Norway,  it  is  still  growing  rapidly.  It 
has  more  than  three  thousand  miles  of  streets.  In  spread- 
ing thus,  the  great  city  has  readied  out  to,  and  absorbed, 
many  towns  that  once  stood  around  it.  By  the  way,  this 
accounts,  to  some  extent  for  the  fact  that  so  many  streets 
in  London  have  the  same  name.  I  venture  to  think  that 
the  most  preposterous  and  vexatious  system  of  nomen- 
clature ever  in  vogue  is  that  which  has  been  employed  for 
the  streets  of  London.  Until  quite  recently  there  were 
1 66  different  streets  in  this  city  bearing  the  name  of  New, 
151  Church,  129  Union,  127  York,  119  John,  109  George, 


UGLINESS  AND  CHARM  OF  LONDON.      39 

and  so  on.  Of  late  some  part  of  this  infuriating  ambiguity 
has  been  removed  by  certain  changes,  but  enough  of  it 
still  remains  to  baffle  and  puzzle  the  visitor,  and  to  cause 
him  the  loss  of  much  valuable  time  and  some  temper. 
The  Body  is  More  *  nave  not  flattered  London.  The  picture 
than  Raiment,  drawn  above  is  repulsive.  Perhaps  some 
of  my  readers  are  ready  to  ask  whether  such  a  place  can 
be  attractive.  Yes.  Bulwer  says  of  it,  in  Ernest  Mai- 
travers,  "The  public  buildings  are  few,  and,  for  the  most 
part,  mean;  the  monuments  of  antiquity  not  comparable 
to  those  which  the  pettiest  town  in  Italy  can  boast  of; 
the  palaces  are  sad  rubbish ;  the  houses  of  our  peers  and 
princes  are  shabby  and  shapeless  heaps  of  bricks.  But 
what  of  all  this  ?  The  spirit  of  London  is  in  her  thorough- 
fares —  her  population !  What  wealth  —  what  cleanliness 
—  what  order  —  what  animation !  How  majestic,  and  yet 
how  vivid,  is  the  life  that  runs  through  her  myriad  veins !" 
Externally,  Paris  is  incomparably  more  beautiful  than 
London,  but  the  fundamental  characteristics  of  the  French 
people  are  not  to  be  named  with  those  of  the  British.  The 
charm  of  London  is  deeper  than  that  of  Paris;  it  wears 
better;  it  lasts  longer. 

"Sir,"  said  Dr.  Johnson  to  Boswell,  as  they  sat  in  the 
Mitre  Tavern,  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  "the  happiness  of 
London  is  not  to  be  conceived,  but  by  those  who  have  been 
in  it.  I  will  venture  to  say  there  is  more  learning  and 
science  within  the  circumference  of  ten  miles  from  where 
we  sit  than  in  all  the  rest  of  the  kingdom."  And  again, 
"He  who  is  tired  of  London  is  tired  of  existence.*' 

It  is  the  history  of  the  city  and  the  character  of  the 
people,  rather  than  the  shape  and  color  of  their  houses, 
that  give  London  her  abiding  charm.  And,  with  her  vast 
treasures  of  literature,  science,  and  art,  what  a  paradise 
the  great  smoky  city  is  to  all  readers  and  students,  in 


40  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

spite  of  her  wretched  climate,  and  her  oppressively  dingy 
tout  ensemble! 

It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  the  famous  French  sculptor, 
M.  Rodin,  has  recently  been  expressing  his  admiration 
for  the  smoky  British  metropolis,  declaring  that  "nothing 
could  be  more  beautiful  than  the  rich,  dark,  and  ruddy 
tones  of  London  buildings,  in  the  grey  and  golden  haze 
of  the  afternoon." 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  ENGLISH  VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY. 

LONDON,  July  4,  1902. 

IT  is  the  custom  of  the  American  Ambassador  to  Eng- 
land to  give  a  reception  every  year,  on  the  Fourth  of 
July,  to  any  of  his  countrymen  who  may  be  sojourning  in 
the  British  metropolis.  Being  in  London  on  the  recur- 
rence of  that  memorable  date  in  1902,  we  made  it  our 
special  business  to  attend  this  reception.  It  did  not  differ 
from  the  conventional  affair  of  this  kind.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Choate  and  their  daughter  received  their  guests  with 
gracious  cordiality.  The  house  is  a  large  one,  well  fur- 
nished, and  worthy  to  be  the  home  of  the  representative 
of  the  greatest  nation  in  the  world.  All  the  great  halls, 
wide  stairways,  and  spacious  parlors  were  thrown  open 
as  well  as  the  large  dining-room,  on  the  first  floor,  where 
refreshments  were  served,  and  a  wide  spreading  marquee 
on  the  terrace  in  the  rear,  where  lively  music  was  dis- 
coursed and  these  were  all  filled  with  people,  well 
dressed,  and,  for  the  most  part,  well-bred  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen, the  ladies  predominating  —  a  company  so  numer- 
ous as  to  give  one  a  very  strong  impression  of  the  number 
of  Americans  visiting  London  in  the  summer.  This  sea- 
son may,  indeed,  have  been  exceptional,  as  the  coronation 
of  the  King  had  been  expected  to  take  place  in  the  latter 
part  of  June.  But  apart  altogether  from  that,  it  would 
have  been  a  large  crowd,  and  it  is  certain  that,  under 
ordinary  conditions,  the  number  of  our  people  visiting 
London  steadily  increases  year  by  year,  and  that  they 
4 


42  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

feel  at  home  there,  as  among  their  own  kith  and  kin,  to  a 
degree  unknown  in  any  other  of  the  European  capitals. 

Speaking  by  and  large,  I  believe  that  we 
faCFriendfiness     l^e  an^  trust  the  British  people,  and  that 
between  they  like  and  trust  us.     A  marked  change 

England.™  nas  come  over  the  feelings  of  both  peoples 
within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  I 
remember  well  that  when  I  was  a  boy,  the  school 
histories  of  the  United  States  had  the  effect  of  making 
all  the  American  boys  hate  the  English.  They  Were 
not  informed  that  many  of  the  English  people,  including 
some  of  their  greatest  statesmen,  deprecated  earn- 
estly the  oppressive  acts  of  the  British  government  which 
led  to  the  American  Revolution,  and  that  now  the  people 
of  Great  Britain  are  practically  unanimous  in  the  opinion 
that  their  government  was  wrong,  and  the  Americans 
right  in  that  great  conflict.  If  any  reader  doubts  this,  I 
beg  leave  to  call  his  attention  to  some  statements  found 
in  a  pamphlet  called  "Pictures  from  England's  Story," 
which  I  bought  at  a  London  news  stand.  It  belongs  to  a 
series  of  such  works  called  "Books  for  the  Bairns,"  which 
are  written  by  English  authors  for  the  instruction  of 
English  children,  and  which,  though  well  printed,  in  clear, 
bold  type,  and  copiously  illustrated,  are  sold  at  the  almost 
incredibly  small  price  of  one  penny  apiece. 

"Most  of  the  pictures  which  you  will  find  in 
tms  book  are  pictures  of  English  victories, 
view  the  but  there  is  one  picture,  and  that  one  of 

Reunion.  tne  most  significant  of  all,  of  an  English 
defeat.  This  is  the  picture  of  the  battle 
of  Bunker's  Hill,  that  was  fought  in  America.  I 
want  you  to  take  particular  notice  of.  that  picture,  be- 
cause, although  the  English  were  defeated,  it  was  much 
better  for  them  to  be  defeated  than  it  would  have  been 


ENGLISH  VIEW  OF  FOURTH  OF  JULY.    43 

for  them  to  have  been  victorious.  You  will  often  be  told 
that  you  must  always  be  glad  when  your  country  is  victo- 
rious, but  that  is  not  true,  for  justice  and  right  are  greater 
than  your  country.  When  your  country  fights  against 
justice,  and  against  right,  and  against  liberty,  it  is  fighting 
against  God,  and  even  if  it  succeeds  for  the  time  being,  it 
will  always  suffer  in  the  long  run.  In  the  war  which  be- 
gan with  the  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill,  England  was  in  the 
wrong.  Every  one  admits  that  now,  but  at  the  time  when 
it  was  fought,  the  King  and  his  ministers,  and  most  of 
the  people  of  England,  believed  that  they  were  in  the 
right,  because  it  was  the  cause  of  England,  and  England 
was  the  home  of  liberty,  and  it  seemed  to  them  quite 
absurd  to  think  that  the  American  farmers  could  have 
right  on  their  side.  But  the  American  farmers  were  in 
the  right.  They  were  few,  they  were  poor,  they  had  no 
army,  they  had  no  king,  and  they  had  no  parliament,  and 
it  seemed  quite  impossible  to  our  forefathers  of  those  days 
to  think  that  such  a  small  people  could  possibly  stand  up 
against  the  armies  and  the  navies  of  Great  Britain.  But 
Great  Britain  was  in  the  wrong.  The  Americans  were 
the  English  people  who  had  gone  across  the  sea  to  make 
new  homes  for  themselves  in  another  country,  where  they 
could  be  free  to  govern  themselves  in  their  own  way, 
without  interference  from  the  British  government.  They 
were  good  people,  honest,  hard-working,  pious  folk,  who 
had  carried  with  them  across  the  sea  the  English  love  of 
liberty  and  self-government. 

"The  English  in  England  had  been  victo- 

A  Fair  State-  .       °      . 

mentof  nous  in  their  war  against  France.      They 

the  Question      were   governed   by  a   German   king,   who 

Conflict.  was  much  less  in  sympathy  with  English 

ideas   than    were   the   Americans,    and   he 

believed,    and    the    majority    of    the    English    in    Eng- 


44  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

land  agreed  with  him  at  that  time,  that  the  Americans 
ought  to  be  content  to  be  governed  by  governors  sent  out 
from  England,  and  should  be  willing  to  pay  the  taxes, 
which  the  English  Parliament  ordered  them  to  pay.    Now 
the  English  have  always  maintained  that  no  king  or  gov- 
ernment has  a  right  to  compel  the  people  to  pay  any 
money   for   the   support  of  the  government   unless   the 
people  consent  to  pay  it.    Taxation  without  representation 
is  tyranny,  and  the  Americans  said,  that  as  they  had  no 
voice  in  the  election  of  the  English  Parliament,  which 
made  the  taxes,  they  were  not  bound  to  pay  them.    The 
English  said,  that  whether  they  liked  it  or  not,  the  Ameri- 
cans must  pay  them.    The  Americans  said  they  would  not. 
The  English  said  they  would  make  them,  and  they  sent  an 
army  to  America  to  compel  the  Americans  to  pay  the 
taxes,  and  to  obey  the  King  and  Parliament.     In  doing 
this  they  were  sinning  against  the  first  principle  of  Eng- 
lish liberty,  and  the  Americans  took  up  arms  to  defend 
their  liberty  against  the  English  soldiers.     They  met  at 
Bunker's  Hill,  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  every  one,  the 
undrilled  farmers,  who  knew  how  to  shoot,  met  and  de- 
feated the  disciplined  troops  of  England.     England  sent 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  men  across  the  Atlantic; 
they    defeated    the    Americans    again    and    again ;    they 
burned  their  houses;    they  ravaged  their  country;    they 
captured  all  their  cities ;  but  still  the  Americans  went  on 
fighting,  because  they  were  of  the  true  English  breed, 
and  they  would  rather  lose  their  lives  than  give  up  the 
independence  of  their  country.    They  were  not  indepen- 
dent at  first,  they  were  British  colonists;  but  when  they 
found  themselves  attacked  by  the  British,  they  declared 
their  independence,  and  formed  themselves  into  a  republic, 
without  a  king,  or  a  House  of  Lords,  or  an  Established 
Church. 


ENGLISH  VIEW  OF  FOURTH  OF  JULY.    45 

The    WSr   WCnt   °n    f°      ^   7**™  >     lt    C°St 


What  England 

Learned  from     England  a.  hundred  millions  of  money,  and 
Fighting  thousands    upon   thousands    of   brave    sol- 

against 

her  own  diers  ;     but     the     English     were     fighting 

against  their  own  English  principles,  which 
were  defended  by  George  Washington  and  the  Ameri- 
cans with  such  bravery  and  heroism  that  at  last  the 
English,  notwithstanding  all  their  pride,  and  their  wealth, 
and  their  power,  had  to  give  in,  and  own  themselves 
beaten  .....  Fortunately,  we  were  defeated,  and 
from  our  defeat  we  learned  a  great  lesson,  which  we 
did  not  forget  for  nearly  a  hundred  years.  That  lesson  is 
that  it  is  impossible  to  govern  a  white,  freedom-loving 
people  except  by  their  own  consent.  We  took  that  lesson 
to  heart  so  much  that  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  we  never 
again  attempted  to  compel  our  colonists  to  do  anything 
they  did  not  want  to  do.  We  gave  them  freedom,  and  let 
them  govern  themselves  upon  the  true  English  principles 
which  George  Washington  fought  for,  and  which  George 
III.  fought  against.  The  British  Empire,  of  which  we 
are  so  proud  to-day,  exists  because  the  principles  of 
George  III.  were  knocked  on  the  head  at  the  battle  of 
Bunker's  Hill,  and  in  the  long  war  which  followed  it. 
.  .  .  The  United  States  of  America  are  now  a  great 
nation,  which  is  more  numerous  and  more  powerful  than 
Great  Britain." 

This  candid  and  manly  statement,  made  by  an  English 
author  and  published  broadcast  for  the  instruction  of 
English  children,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  things  I 
have  encountered  in  England,  and  I  have  thought  it  worth 
while  to  quote  it  here  in  the  interests  of  a  still  better 
understanding  between  the  two  great  nations  of  the  same 
stock,  and  the  same  speech,  and  the  same  political 
ideals. 


46  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

A  slighter  indication  of  the  same  English  breadth  of 
view  in  regard  to  this  question  was  given  by  the  good 
ladies  who  have  charge  of  the  pleasant  boarding  house,  on 
Torrington  Square,  which  we  have  made  our  home  on  all 
our  visits  to  London,  and  who,  on  the  morning  of  the 
Fourth  of  July,  thought  of  it  themselves,  and  had  a  tiny 
firecracker  lying  by  the  plate  of  each  young  American  in 
our  party  when  we  came  down  to  breakfast,  besides  other 
indications  later  in  the  day  of  their  readiness,  though 
themselves  staunchly  British,  to  enter  sympathetically  into 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  Americans  celebrate  the  natal 
day  of  our  nation. 

A  movement  has  been  started  in  London  to  erect  a 
statue  of  George  Washington.  It  was  decided  that  the 
subscriptions  should  be  confined  to  British  subjects. 
Archdeacon  Sinclair,  in  submitting  the  plan  to  the  (Puri- 
tan) Society,  said: 

"Englishmen  have  at  last  fully  recognized  the  great 
qualities  of  Washington.  I  feel  assured  that  nothing  will 
be  more  popular  in  this  country  than  such  a  tribute  to  that 
great  man  of  English  birth,  who  has  done  so  much  for  the 
world's  history,  not  only  for  the  young  nation  across  the 
sea,  but  for  Great  Britain  as  well." 

Archdeacon  Sinclair  announced  that  he  was  authorized 
to  offer  a  place  for  the  statue  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 

But  now  I  find  that  I  have  become  so  much  interested 
in  the  statement  of  this  reversal  of  British  sentiment  con- 
cerning the  American  struggle  for  independence,  that  I 
have  left  myself  no  space  to  speak  of  the  burning  question 
in  England  just  now,  in  regard  to  which  the  government 
has  taken  a  position,  extraordinary  as  this  may  seem, 
which  violates  the  same  principles  of  liberty  for  which 
the  Americans  fought,  and  so  I  mus>t  reserve  that  for  an- 
other letter. 


ENGLISH  VIEW  OF  FOURTH  OF  JULY.    47 

P.  S. — Since  my  return  to  America  I  have  seen  an 
interesting  statement  by  the  Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell,  of  Lon- 
don, in  regard  to  the  steady  increase  of  the  pro-British 
feeling  in  the  United  States.  He  says  that  a  book  has 
just  been  published  by  an  American  barrister  named  Dos 
Passos,  called  The  Anglo-Saxon  Century  and  the  Uni- 
fication of  the  English-Speaking  People.  This  gentleman, 
although  of  Spanish  origin,  is  of  American  birth,  and  his 
interest  in  the  future  of  his  own  country  had  led  him  to 
examine  that  of  ours.  He  believes  that  the  twentieth 
century  is  to  be  the  Anglo-Saxon  century,  even  more 
than  the  nineteenth,  and  the  conditions  of  an  alliance,  as 
advocated  by  him,  are  as  follows:. 

1.  The   Dominion   of   Canada  voluntarily   to  divide 
itself  into  such  different  States,  geographically  arranged, 
as  its  citizens  desire,  in  proportion  to  population,  and  each 
State  to  be  admitted  as  a  full  member  of  the  American 
Union,  in  accordance  with  the  conditions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

2.  To  establish  common  citizenship  between  all  citizens 
of  the  United  States  and  the  British  Empire. 

3.  To  establish  absolute  freedom  of  commercial  inter- 
course and  relations  between  the  countries  involved,  to 
the  same  extent  as  that  which  exists  between  the  different 
States  constituting  the  United  States  of  America. 

4.  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  to  coin  gold, 
silver,  nickel,  and  copper  money,  not  necessarily  display- 
ing the  same  devices  or  mottoes,  but  possessing  the  same 
money  value,  and  interchangeable  everywhere  within  the 
limits  covered  by  the  treaty,  and  to  establish  a  uniform 
standard  of  weights  and  measures. 

5.  To  provide  for  a  proper  and  satisfactory  arbitration 
tribunal  to  decide  all  questions  which  may  arise  under  the 
treaty. 


48  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Much  of  this  may  seem  chimerical  and  unsound,  but 
there  is  certainly  a  feeling  in  this  country  which  is  influ- 
encing things  in  the  direction  of  a  better  understanding, 
and  a  consciousness  of  a  common  destiny  between  the 
British  Empire  and  the  United  States.  In  private  one  is 
constantly  meeting  with  expressions  of  it,  and  I  may  as 
well  add  that  nothing  has  caused  me  more  surprise  than 
this  one  fact.  One  frequently  heaio  the  hope  expressed 
that  a  common  citizenship  may  one  day  be  possible  with- 
out any  interference  with  the  constitution  of  either  coun- 
try. This  is  a  new  idea  to  me,  and  may  be  a  fruitful  one 
some  day. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
How  THE  ENGLISH  REGARD  THE  AMERICANS. 

LONDON,  July  10,  1902 

THERE  are  many  indications  of  a  better  understand- 
ing, and  an  increasing  confidence  and  regard  be- 
tween the  two  great  English-speaking  nations  on  either 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  One  strh  indication  is  the  marked 
change  of  tone  on  the  part  of  English  writers  in  their 
references  to  their  American  cousins.  The  time  was 
when,  in  British  books  and  newspapers,  Americans  were 
uniformly  represented  as  coarse  and  loud.  There  are 
still  too  many  Americans,  at  home  and  abroad,  who  de- 
serve to  be  so  described,  but  the  old  contemptuous  tone 
towards  Americans  in  general  is  found  only  in  an  occa- 
sional writer  who  lives  chiefly  in  the  past.  For  instance, 
Mr.  Hare,  the  author  of  some  of  the  best  guide  books  for 
reading  people  that  have  ever  appeared,  such  as  his  Walks 
in  London,  and  his  Walks  in  Rome,  seems  still  to  regard 
the  average  American  as  the  embodiment  of  bad  taste  and 
crass  ignorance.  In  his  book  on  Florence,  after  speaking 
of  various  other  hotels,  and  their  picturesque  locations, 
he  says,  "Americans  may  possibly  like  the  Savoy  Hotel 
in  the  horrible  Piazza.  Victorio  Emanuele";  and  in  his 
book  on  Rome  he  says  it  is  depressing  to  hear  Americans, 
when  asked  their  opinion  of  the  Venus  de  Medici,  say, 
"they  guess  they  are  not  particularly  gone  on  stone  gals." 
But  Americans  only  smile  as  they  read  these  things, 
remembering  that  Hare  is  the  same  man  who  bewails  the 
downfall  of  the  papacy  as  a  temporal  power,  and  who 
believes  that  the  emancipation  and  unification  of  Italy  by 


50  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Victor  Immanuel  was  a  calamity,  notwithstanding  the 
steadily  increasing  prosperity  of  the  people,  and  the  stead- 
ily rising  financial  credit  of  the  nation,  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  every  unprejudiced  observer  acknow- 
ledges that  the  chief  hindrance  to  still  more  rapid  progress 
is  the  swarm  of  fat  priests  and  monks  who  still  infest 
Italy,  and  in  the  inte'rest  of  the  papacy  oppose  the  new 
and  enlightened  government  at  every  turn. 

In  short,  Hare's  view  of  the  average  Ameri- 
The  English  can  js  now  sucj1  an  anachronism  as  to  entitle 

Admit  that 

America  him  fairly  to  be  called  a  freak.     He  cer- 

Hoidsthe          tainly  does  not  represent  his  countrymen 

Future.  .      ,  .    . 

of  to-day  in  their  view  of  the  spirit  and 
culture  of  the  American  people.  The  usual  tone  of 
English  reference  to  them  is  not  only  not  contemptu- 
ous, but  respectful  and  friendly,  and  in  the  case  of 
the  industrial  and  commercial  enterprise  of  the  Ameri- 
cans there  is  even  a  tinge  of  fear  in  the  tone  in  which 
the  English  refer  to  them.  For  example,  a  very  able  and 
candid  English  editor,  in  speaking  of  Mr.  Andrew  Car- 
negie's address  as  Rector  of  St.  Andrews  University,  last 
October,  which  he  pronounces  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
addresses  ever  delivered  in  Great  Britain,  practically 
admits  that  America  has  outstripped  the  mother  country 
in  this  respect  at  least.  He  says,  "Mr.  Carnegie  is  a  per- 
sonage. A  man  who  has  risen  from  nothing  to  the  sum- 
mit of  American  finance  is  a  man  to  be  reckoned  with. 
Mr.  Carnegie  is  also  a  Scotchman,  and  a  devout  lover  of 
his  country.  It  is  no  pleasure  to  him  to  contemplate  the 
decadence  of  Great  Britain.  He  is  anxious  to  say  the  best 
he  can  for  our  country,  and  yet  the  one  thing  to  be  noted 
in  his  address  is  his  immense,  overpowering  faith  in 
America.  .  .  .  She  has  such  resources,  and  is  in- 
creasing so  rapidly  that  nothing  can  stand  against  her. 


HOW  ENGLISH  REGARD  AMERICANS.     51 

Britain's  employers  are  wanting  in  energy  and  enterprise, 
and  the  employed  think  too  much  of  how  little  they  need 
do,  and  too  little  of  how  much  they  can  do.  Britain  may 
maintain  her  present  trade,  but  America  will  in  the  life- 
time of  many  people  have  a  population  equal  to  that  of 
Europe  to-day,  excluding  Russia.  America  is  not  an 
armed  camp,  as  Europe  is.  It  is  one  united  whole  at 
peace  with  itself,  and  enjoys  immunity  from  attack,  while 

in  machinery  its  position  is  far  ahead  of  others 

That  a  man  so  shrewd,  successful  and  experienced  as 
Mr.  Carnegie,  and  so  well  disposed  towards  Britain, 
should  have  come  reluctantly  to  the  conclusion  that  for 
Britain  there  is  no  future,  and  for  America  there  is  the 
future  of  the  world,  is  a  fact  of  first-rate  significance,  and 
we  should  like  to  see  how  he  is  to  be  answered."  This  is 
a  remarkably  candid  statement. 

English  Candor       In  "^  last  letteT  l  Said  that  the  English  pCO- 

and  English       pie    now    frankly    acknowledge    that    their 

Inconsistency.      <•          r    ,1  •         ,1  .1 

forefathers  were  wrong  in  the  war  they 
waged  against  the  American  colonies,  and  openly  rejoice 
in  the  victory  achieved  by  Washington  and  his  associates 
on  behalf  of  the  principle  of  no  taxation  without  repre- 
sentation, and  I  referred  in  closing  to  what  seems  to  be  a 
strange  inconsistency  on  the  part  of  many  of  the  English 
people  in  upholding  a  policy  at  the  present  time,  which 
involves  a  violation  of  the  same  principle.  The  thing 
referred  to  was  the  new  Education  Bill,  perfidiously  in- 
troduced into  Parliament  by  the  Tory  party,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  certain  leaders  of  the  Anglican  Church,  at  a 
time  when  that  party  had  an  overwhelming  majority  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  a  majority  given  it  by  the  coun- 
try for  the  specific  purpose  of  bringing  the  war  in  South 
Africa  to  a  speedy  and  successful  close,  and  when  the 
electors  never  dreamed  of  that  majority  being  used  to 


52  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

promote  sectarianism,  and  to  oppress  the  consciences  of  a 
great  body  of  the  people.  The  object  of  the  bill  is  to  tax 
the  whole  population  of  England  for  the  support  of 
schools  which  are  controlled,  not  by  the  people,  but  by 
the  ritualistic  clergy  of  the  Anglican  Church,  or,  as  an 
evangelical  clergyman  of  that  church  himself  puts  it,  the 
intention  of  the  measure  is  "to  hand  the  education  of  the 
coming  generations  over  to  the  Romanizing  priesthood  of 
the  Anglican  Church."  The  mere  suggestion  of  public 
support  without  public  control  ought  to  rouse  the  indigna- 
tion of  a  free  people.  But  the  bill  proposes  a  worse  thing 
even  than  this,  so  far  as  the  Nonconformists  are  con- 
cerned, for  they  are  not  only  to  be  asked  to  pay  for  the 
support  of  a  religion  they  do  not  believe  in,  but  also  to 
hand  over  their  children  to  its  teachers,  in  order  that  they 
may  be  perverted.  In  other  words,  they  are  to  be  asked 
to  pay  for  the  destruction  of  their  own  religion. 

However  apathetic  some  Englishmen  may  be  in  the 
face  of  such  proposals,  that  is  the  sort  of  thing  that  never 
fails  to  rouse  liberty-loving  Scotland,  and  so,  along  with 
the  earnest  denunciations  of  the  bill  by  various  organiza- 
tions of  English  Free  Churchmen, .  it  has  been  heartily 
condemned  by  all  the  great  religious  bodies  of  Scotland. 
Scotchmen  and  the  Saint  Andrew,  as  the  weekly  organ  of 
Education  BUI.  the  Church  of  Scotland  is  called,  says 
as  to  the  origin,  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  measure,  "There 
is  no  real  meaning  in  calling  the  party  in  the  English 
Church,  which  is  at  present  the  most  indefatigable,  the 
'High  Church'  party.  The  party  is  Romanist,  pure  and 
simple;  and  it  is  devoting  itself  to  the  uprooting  of  the 

Protestantism  of  the  young  people  of  England 

Can  we  wonder  at  the  intelligent  Nonconformist  revolting 
against  his  children  being  brought  under  the  fatally  sinis- 


HOW  ENGLISH  REGARD  AMERICANS.     53 

ter  influence  here  referred  to,  and  knowing  the  close  con- 
nection between  church  and  school,  resolving  that  he  will 
resist,  with  all  his  might,  the  perpetuation  of  a  system  in 
which  general  control  of  the  public  schools  shall  be  in  the 
hands  of  men  who  openly  inculcate  the  doctrine  of  the 
corporeal  presence,  baptismal  regeneration,  prayers  for 
the  dead,  the  duty  of  confession,  adoration  of  the  cross ; 
and  who  beguile  the  children  of  their  schools  to  attend 
'the  sacrifice  of  the  mass/  with  the  incense  and  candles, 
and  all  the  other  paraphernalia  under  which  they  have 
disguised  the  Lord's  Supper?" 

The  folly  of  the  Anglicans  in  this  matter  will  hasten 
the  fall  of  the  Established  Church -of  England.  And  in 
any  case  the  Nonconformists  will  not  have  long  to  wait, 
for  they  are  steadily  and  rapidly  gaining  ground.  In 
1700  Dissenters  were,  in  comparison  with  Churchmen, 
one  to  twenty-two;  in  1800,  one  to  eight,  and  in  1900, 
one  to  one.  That  shows  that  the  day  is  not  distant  when 
real  religious  liberty  shall  be  established  in  England,  and 
all  such  bigoted  legislation  as  this  present  Education  Bill 
shall  be  swept  from  her  statute  books.  Meantime,  it  is 
certain  that  it  will  go  on  the  books,  notwithstanding  its 
glaring  injustice.  There  is  not  a  doubt  that  Mr.  Balfour's 
government  will  push  the  measure  through,  by  means  of 
the  votes  of  its  great  war  majority.  The  consequence 
will  be  that  thousands  of  Nonconformists  will  refuse  to 
pay  the  rates,  then  the  King's  officers  will  seize  and  sell 
some  of  their  property,  and  perhaps  numbers  of  them  will 
see  the  inside  of  prison  walls  before  all  is  over.  But  they 
will  make  history  in  England.  For,  when  men  are  sold 
out  and  imprisoned  for  the  sake  of  conscience  and  relig- 
ious liberty  and  a  historic  English  principle,  viz.,  that  of 
public  control  of  public  funds  —  when  these  things  occur, 


54  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

an  idea  will  begin  to  penetrate  to  the  average  English 
mind,  the  English  sense  of  fair  play  will  be  roused,  and 
the  English  zeal  for  liberty  kindled  anew,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  English  instinct  of  self-preservation  —  and  then 
the  day  of  reckoning  will  have  come. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  BRITISH  REPUBLIC  AND  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS. 

LONDON,  July  15,  1902. 

THE  nominal  ruler  of  the  British  Empire  is  His 
Majesty,  Edward  VII.  The  real  ruler  is  the  House 
of  Commons.  Though  I  was  in  Great  Britain  at  the  time 
of  the  coronation,  and  saw  something  of  the  pomp  with 
which  it  was  celebrated,  I  have  not  thought  it  worth  while 
to  occupy  the  time  of  my  readers  with  descriptions  of  it, 
since  it  is  only  one  of  those  glittering  fictions  which  the 
English  people  see  fit  to  preserve,  notwithstanding  their 
general  good  sense  —  a  somewhat  childish  observance  of 
outworn  mediaeval  ceremonies,  a  foolish  and  expensive 
form.  But  certainly  I  ought  not  to  quit  the  subject  of 
the  political  ideas  suggested  by  a  sojourn  in  London,  and 
especially  by  repeated  visits  to  that  most  interesting 
portion  of  it,  Westminster,  without  some  reference  to  the 
part  it  has  played  in  developing  the  model  of  all  the  free 
governments  of  the  world.  For,  as  a  British  writer  has 
truly  said,  Westminster  is  historically  the  centre  of  poli- 
tics, not  for  London  and  Great  Britain  only,  but  for  the 
civilized  world.  "All  civilized  nations,  both  in  Europe 
and  America,  as  \vell  as  all  the  British  colonies,  have  now 
adopted  the  constitution  which  was  here  founded  and 
developed,  with  a  single  head  of  the  State  and  two  cham- 
bers; though,  with  regard  to  the  headship  of  the  State 
and  the  upper  chamber,  the  elective  has,  in  the  most 
advanced  politics,  been  substituted'  for  the  hereditary 
principle,  while  in  the  cases  of  the  United  States  and 
Switzerland  there  is  a  federal  as  well  as  a  national  ele- 


56  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

ment.  The  Roman  imposed  his  institutions  with  arms 
upon  a  conquered  world ;  a  willing  world  has  adopted  the 
institutions  which  had  their  original  seat  at  Westminster. 
But  the  British  Constitution  now  means  little  more  than 
the  omnipotence  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  im- 
mense edifice  is  still  styled  the  palace ;  but  the  King  who 
now  dwells  in  the  palace  is  the  sovereign  people." 
The  Houses  For  this  reason  it  is  more  common  now  to 
of  Parliament.  Speak  of  the  Palace  of  Westminster  as  the 
Houses  of  Parliament.  It  is  a  vast  and  costly  pile,  one  of 
the  largest  Gothic  buildings  in  the  world,  erected  about 
fifty  years  ago,  in  the  Tudor  style,  at  an  outlay  of 
fifteen  million  dollars.  The  extremely  florid  exterior  is 
constructed  of  a  limestone  so  perishable  that  already  it 
costs  ten  thousand  dollars  a  year  to  keep  it  in  repair. 
Tastes  differ  as  to  the  merit  of  the  architecture.  Some 
pronounce  the  building  majestic  and  imposing.  Others 
say  that  at  a  little  distance  the  river  front  looks  like  a 
large  modern  cotton  mill.  All  agree  that  there  is  too  much 
elaborate  ornamentation. 

This  is  true  of  the  interior,  as  well  as  the  exterior, 
and,  as  some  one  has  said,  it  is  interesting  to  observe  the 
attempt  made  to  preserve  a  constitutional  fiction  by  deco- 
rating with  special  gorgeousness  that  Chamber  of  the 
House  which  has  been  stripped  of  all  its  power,  viz.,  the 
House  of  Lords.  It  is  resplendent  in  the  vivid  red  leather 
which  covers  the  seats  and  backs  of  the  straight  benches, 
rising  in  tiers  on  the  opposite  sides,  and  in  the  sumptuous 
frescoes  of  the  walls,  the  rich  stained  glass  of  the  win- 
dows, and  the  excessive  gilding  of  the  ceiling.  The 
leather  on  the  benches  in  the  House  of  Commons  is  black, 
and  there  is  less  of  magnificence  in  general  than  in  the 
Chamber  of  the  Peers,  though  it  also  is  a  rich  interior. 

Yet  neither  of  them  makes  an  impression  of  spacious- 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.  57 

ness  and  grandeur,  and,  to  one  who  has  seen  the  noble 
halls  in  which  our  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
sit  at  Washington,  both  of  these  legislative  chambers  of 
Britain  seem  small  and  cramped.  They  are  also  mean 
and  uncomfortable  in  their  arrangements  as  compared 
with  those  of  our  Congress.  At  Washington  each  mem- 
ber has  his  own  chair,  and  a  desk  for  his  books  and 
papers.  But  here  there  are  no  desks,  only  rigid  benches, 
upon  which  the  members  sit  or  loll,  facing  each  other 
across  the- narrow  chamber,  the  supporters  of  the  govern- 
ment on  the  Speaker's  right,  and  the  opposition  on  his 
left.  Worst  of  all  is  the  fact  that,  though  the  combined 
science  of  the  country  was  employed  in  the  construction 
of  these  halls  of  session  and  debate,  they  are  both  wretched 
failures  as  to  ventilation  and  acoustics,  the  House  of 
Lords  being  so  bad  in  the  latter  particular  that  it  used  to 
be  said  that  members  went  out  to  buy  an  evening  paper 
in  order  to  learn  what  the  debate  was  about. 
Getting  into  the  As  the  House  of  Commons  is  King,  we 

Lower  House. :  looked  forward  with  eager  interest  to  a  visit 
to  that  potent  body.  At  the  instance  of  our  good  friend, 
Dr.  Kerr,  Sir  James  Campbell,  a  Presbyterian  member  of 
the  House  from  Scotland,  wrote  us  an  invitation  to  visit 
the  Commons  in  session,  but,  when  we  reached  the  door, 
at  the  appointed  hour,  and  sent  in  our  cards  through  the 
line  of  policemen  and  doorkeepers,  there  was  no  reply. 
When  we  had  waited  some  time,  a  gentleman  in  the  crowd 
at  the  entrance  accosted  us,  and  asked  if  we  were  not 
Americans,  and  if  we  did  not  wish  to  get  into  the  House, 
both  of  which  polite  inquiries  we  answered  with  an 
eager  affirmative.  He  said  he  thought  he  could  arrange 
it  for  us,  and,  handing  us  his  card,  from  which  we 
learned  that  he  was  the  London  correspondent  of  a  great 

American  newspaper,  he  left  us  for  a  minute,  and  soon 
5 


58  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

returned,  accompanied  by  a  friend  of  his,  one  of  the  Irish 
members  of  the  House,  to  whom  we  were  introduced,  and 
who  promptly  procured  us  permission  to  enter  the  visitors' 
gallery.  At  Washington,  any  one  who  chooses  can  go 
into  the  visitors'  gallery,  and  listen  to  the  debates,  but 
here  there  is  a  good  deal  of  red  tape.  You  must  even 
register  your  name  and  address,  besides  being  introduced 
by  a  member,  before  you  can  pass  the  turnstile  and  go  in. 
The  Debate  and  We  soon  discovered  that  we  were  very  f  or- 
the  Debaters,  tunate  in  gaining  admission  just  when  we 
did,  as  the  greatest  question  of  the  whole  year,  and,  in- 
deed, the  greatest  question  that  has  been  before  the  House 
for  many  years,  was  up,  viz.,  the  Education  Bill,  the 
object  of  which  is  to  put  the  schools  of  England,  for  the 
support  of  which  the  whole  population  is  taxed,  under 
the  control,  not  of  the  representatives  of  the  public,  but  of 
the  ritualistic  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England;  and  in 
the  course  of  this  very  afternoon  nearly  every  prominent 
man  in  both  of  the  great  political  parties  was  drawn  into 
the  discussion.  When  we  entered,  Sir  William  Vernon 
Harcourt,  the  veteran  Liberal  statesman,  had  the  floor. 
Among  others  who  followed  him  on  the  same  side  of  the 
House  were  Mr.  James  Bryce,  the  well-known  author  of 
The  Holy  Roman  Empire  and  The  American  Common- 
wealth, Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman,  the  leader  of  the 
Liberal  party  in  the  House,  and  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  who 
has  made  the  most  active  and  brilliant  opposition  to  this 
treacherous,  sectarian  measure.  The  Irish  Roman  Catho- 
lics, who,  of  course,  have  voted  steadily  and  solidly  with 
the  Anglican  High  Churchmen  for  this  iniquitous  bill, 
which  strikes  at  the  root  of  the  fundamental  republican 
principle  of  public  control  of  public  funds,  were  repre- 
sented in  the  debate  by  John  Dillon.  Of  the  others  who 
spoke  in  support  of  the  bill,  the  two  who  interested  me 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.  59 

most  were  Lord  Hugh  Cecil,  the  special  patron  of  the 
measure,  and  his  gifted  cousin,  Mr.  Arthur  J.  Balfour, 
the  government  leader  of  the  House.  The  former,  who, 
I  believe,  is  the  son  of  the  veteran  Prime  Minister,  Lord 
Salisbury,  is  a  slender,  pale,  nervous  young  man,  who 
advocates  very  narrow  views  in  very  good  language, 
nervously  pressing  or  wringing  his  slim  fingers  the  while, 
and  who  is  the  special  champion  of  the  ritualists  and 
reactionaries.  Far  more  able  and  far  more  interesting  in 
every  way  is  his  accomplished  kinsman,  Mr.  Balfour, 
who,  a  few  days  later,  was  appointed  Prime  Minister. 
He  is  a  tall,  ruddy,  handsome  Scotchman,  with  a  rare 
grace  and  charm  of  manner,  and  an  exceptional  air  of 
high  breeding,  who  speaks  in  a  manly,  straightforward 
way,  with  no  trace  of  the  bitterness,  or  even  the  heat  so 
common  in  political  discussions.  When  one  notes  the 
clearness  of  his  mind,  and  the  attractiveness  of  his  ad- 
dress, it  gives  a  keener  edge  to  the  regret  that  such  a  man 
should  be  on  the  wrong  side  of  a  great  question  like  this. 
Mr.  Balfour  is  well  known  to  the  sporting  world  as  a 
golf  player,  and  to  the  reading  world  as  the  author  of  a 
thoughtful  book  on  The  Foundations  of  Religious  Belief. 

It  will  interest  the  readers  of  this  paper  to  know  that 
he  is  a  Presbyterian,  as  Sir  Henry  Campbell-Bannerman, 
the  leader  of  the  Opposition,  also  is.  So  that  the  leaders 
of  both  the  great  parties  in  the  House  of  Commons  are 
Scotchmen  and  Presbyterians. 

One  of  the  interesting  consequences  of  Great  Britain's 
having  a  Presbyterian  Prime  Minister  is,  that  under  their 
system  of  the  union  of  church  and  state,  a  Presbyterian 
will  appoint  the  bishops  and  archbishops  of  the  Church 
of  England  to  the  vacancies  of  those  offices  which  occur 
during  his  premiership.  This  must  be  a  very  bitter  pill 
for  the  extreme  High  Churchmen. 


60  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

English  and  The  failure  of  our  arrangement  with  Sir 

American  Oratory.  james  Campbell  turned  out  to  be  the  re- 
sult of  a  misunderstanding,  so  he  courteously  renewed  it 
for  the  following  day,  when  his  friend  and  fellow-member, 
Mr.  Maxwell,  who  is  also  a  Scotch  Presbyterian,  met  us 
at  the  door,  in  the  absence  of  Sir  James,  and,  after  show- 
ing us  again  everything  of  interest  about  the  Houses, 
including  the  restaurant,  and  the  wide  and  spacious  ter- 
race, running  nearly  the  whole  length  of  the  building 
alongside  the  Thames,  where  the  members  come,  on  fine 
afternoons,  to  drink  their  tea,  ushered  us  into  seats  "under 
the  gallery"  of  the  House,  which  are  regarded  as  the  most 
desirable  for  visitors,  since  there  the  spectator  is  on  a 
level  with  the  speakers. 

The  Education  Bill  was  still  under  discussion,  and  we 
heard  some  good  speaking,  but  not  so  good  as  I  have 
heard  at  Washington,  and  in  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion at  Richmond.  The  matter  was  generally  good,  but 
the  manner  was  in  most  cases  constrained,  if  not  hesitat- 
ing, and  nearly  all  the  members,  including  Mr.  Balfour 
himself,  have  a  habit  of  grasping  the  lapels  of  their  coats, 
"taking  themselves  in  hand,"  as  some  one  has  described  it. 
In  short,  the  speaking  itself  lacks  the  ease,  freedom, 
fluency  and  force  of  our  better  American  oratory. 

However,  it  is  only  fair  to  give,  before  closing,  the 
estimate  of  a  Canadian  writer,  who  is  familiar  with  both 
London  and  Washington,  and  who  says : 

"The  average  of  speaking  is  not  so  high  in  the  House 
of  Commons  as  in  Congress ;  but  the  level  of  the  best 
speakers  is  higher.  American  oratory  almost  always 
savors  somewhat  of  the  school  of  elocution,  and  has  the 
fatal  drawback  of  being  felt  to  aim  at  effect.  The  great- 
est of  English  speakers,  such  as  John  Bright,  the  greatest 
of  all,  or  Gladstone,  create  no  such  impression ;  you  feel 
that  their  only  aim  is  to  produce  conviction." 


THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS.  61 

One  of  the  most  striking  things  about  the  House  of 
Commons  to  the  view  of  an  American  visitor  is  the  well- 
groomed  appearance  of  the  members.  They  are  invari- 
ably attired  in  faultless  Prince  Albert  coats,  often  with 
a  boutonniere  on  the  lapel,  and  they  all  wear  silk  hats, 
which,  by  the  way,  they  are  not  expected  to  take  off 
during  the  sittings,  except  when  addressing  the  House. 
It  is  said  to  be  the  best-dressed  assembly  in  the  world, 
and  is  in  sharp  contrast  with  the  more  democratic  and 
unconventional,  not  to  say  slovenly,  mode  of  dressing 
which  obtains  in  our  House  of  Representatives,  where  the 
ordinary  costume  is  a  long,  loose  frock  coat  —  sometimes 
even  a  sark  —  and  a  derby  or  felt  hat.- 


CHAPTER  IX. 
CAMBRIDGE  AND  HER  SCHOOLS. 

CAMBRIDGE,  July  21,  1902. 

THE  Cathedral  route  from  London  to  Edinburgh 
takes  one  through  an  interesting  stretch  of  eastern 
England,  part  of  which  is  as  flat  as  Holland,  with  fens 
and  canals  and  windmills,  yielding,  however,  in  the  north 
to  a  more  rolling  country,  vestibule,  as  it  were,  to  the  hills 
of  Scotland.  As  its  name  indicates,  this  route  affords  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  in  rapid  succession  the  great  cathe- 
drals at  Ely,  Lincoln,  York,  and  Durham,  not  to  speak 
of  others.  But  nothing  on  this  side  of  England  equals 
in  interest  the  university  town  of  Cambridge,  with  its 
twenty  colleges  and  three  thousand  students,  its  venerable 
collegiate  buildings,  its  far-famed  "backs"  (that  is,  the 
lovely  lawns  and  stately  avenues  behind  the  colleges),  its 
clear  and  placid  little  river,  and  its  memories  of  great 
men  and  great  causes.  It  is  an  exceptionally  clean  town, 
of  some  forty-five  thousand  inhabitants. 
TheTwoUni-  Oxford,  farther  west,  is  a  somewhat  larger 
versity Towns.  city  (about  fifty-three  thousand),  with 
twenty-three  colleges  and  about  three  thousand  students, 
contains  an  unparalleled  collection  of  picturesque  aca- 
demic buildings,  and  has  some  single  features  which  are 
not  surpassed  anywhere,  such  as  Magdalen  (pronounced 
Maudlen)  College,  "the  loveliest  of  all  the  homes  of  learn- 
ing," Addison's  Walk,  The  Broad  Walk,  and  the  "stream- 
like  windings  of  that  glorious  street,"  to  which  Words- 
worth devoted  a  sonnet.  But  Cambridge,  too,  has  some 
features  which  cannot  be  paralleled,  even  in  Oxford,  For 


CAMBRIDGE  AND  HER  SCHOOLS.         63 

instance,  Cambridge  has,  in  Trinity,  the  largest  college 
in  England.  It  has,  in  the  chapel  of  King's  College,  a 
building  of  marvellous  beauty;  Oxford  cannot  match  it, 
nor  can  it  be  matched  anywhere  in  England  save  by  that 
''miracle  of  the  world,"  the  Chapel  of  Henry  VII.,  in 
Westminster  Abbey.  The  roll  of  Cambridge's  alumni  is 
illustrious  to  a  degree,  having  such  names  as  Bacon,  Eras- 
mus, Newton,  Milton,  Cromwell,  Macaulay,  Byron. 
Thackeray,  Tennyson,  Wordsworth,  Harvey  (discoverer 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood),  Darwin,  and  many,  many 
others  equally  well  known. 

But  the  chief  difference  between  Cambridge 

Cambridge  •  ^>    *.»••••«  ••  1   •     n 

more  Pro-          and  Oxford  is  in  the  spirit  and  influence  of 
gressivethan     faQ  j-wo  UpOn  tne  nation  and  the  world,  and 

Oxford. 

here  the  glory  of  Cambridge  excelleth.  It 
used  to  be  said  in  the  fourteenth  century,  "What  Oxford 
thinks  to-day,  England  thinks  to-morrow."  But,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  is  Cambridge  which  has  represented  the 
true  progress  of  England  and  her  modern  political  and 
intellectual  development,  in  such  men  as  Milton  and 
Cromwell,  Isaac  Newton  and  William  Pitt,  Darwin  and 
Tennyson.  Oxford  has  stood  chiefly  for  the  reactionary 
ideas  of  the  High  Church  Anglicans. 

The  difference  was  sharply  marked  in  the  great  testing 
time  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  the  East  supported 
the  Parliament,  and  the  West  supported  the  king.  Lon- 
don and  Cambridge  were  the  centres  of  the  Puritan 
strength,  Oxford  was  the  capital  of  Charles  I.  Crom- 
well's home  was  but  a  short  distance  from  Cambridge, 
and  he  was  a  student  at  Sidney-Sussex  College,  where  we 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  his  rooms,  and  the  celebrated 
crayon  portrait  of  him  in  the  college  hall.  Roughly,  we 
might  say,  Cambridge  has  stood  for  the  Parliament  and 
the  people,  Oxford  for  the  king  and  the  priests.  At  least, 


64  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

there  has  been  more  of  the  spirit  of  freedom,  democracy 
and  progress  at  the  eastern  university  town  than  at  the 
western. 

ThePresbyte-  That  the  same  difference  still  exists  was  in- 
rian  Element,  dicated  to  us  by  a  simple  fact.  When  we 
inquired  at  Oxford  for  a  Presbyterian  church,  the  maid- 
servant said,  "That  is  Protestant,  isn't  it?"  She  was  evi- 
dently a  Romanist,  but  it  is  likely  that  most  of  the  Church 
of  England  people  resident  in  Oxford  never  heard  of 
Presbyterians,  though  our  denomination  is  so  much  larger 
than  theirs.  Oxford  is  the  head  centre  of  Anglicanism, 
and  there  is  no  Presbyterian  church  there,  though  the 
Congregationalists  and  Wesleyans  are  represented.  But. 
at  Cambridge  we  found  a  flourishing,  though  not  yet  a 
very  large,  church  of  our  faith  and  order,  under  the  pas- 
toral care  of  a  gifted  and  earnest  man,  the  Rev.  G.  John- 
ston Ross,  whose  addresses  at  the  Winona  Conference,  in 
Indiana,  this  summer,  gave  so  much  satisfaction.  We  had 
the  pleasure  of  meeting  him,  and  many  of  his  people,  at 
a  pleasant  garden  party,  to  which  all  the  Presbyterians  of 
Cambridge  were  invited. 

By  the  way,  we  saw  a  thing  in  that  church  which  \ve 
had  never  seen  before.  When  the  minister  read  the  Scrip- 
ture lesson  from  the  Old  Testament,  in  the  English  Ver- 
sion, the  two  ladies  in  whose  pew  we  were  sitting  opened 
the  Hebrew  Bible,  and  followed  the  reading  in  that,  and. 
in  like  manner,  when  the  New  Testament  lesson  was  read, 
they  followed  in  the  Greek  text.  To  these  two  ladie?. 
whose  learning  has  been  recognized  by  the  Universities 
of  St.  Andrews  and  Heidelberg,  in  the  bestowment  upon. 
them  of  the  degree  of  LL.  D.,  and  whose  services  to  the 
cause  of  biblical  learning,  in  the  discovery  and  editing  of 
the  old  Sinaitic  Syriac  manuscripts  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, have  made  them  famous  throughout  the  world  of 


CAMBRIDGE  AND  HER  SCHOOLS.         65 

scholars,1  we  had  a  letter  of  introduction  from  a  relative 
of  theirs  in  Virginia,  who  is  a  kind  friend  of  ours.  And 
thus  we  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  at  their  table  some 
of  the  choice  spirits  of  the  University,  including  the 
professors  in  Westminster  College,  which  is  the  theologi- 
cal seminary  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  England. 
Westminster  It  was  largely  through  the  munificence  of 
college.  Mrs  Lewis  and  Mrs.  Gibson,  the  two  elect 

ladies  referred  to  above,  that  this  institution  was  trans- 
planted from  its  former  undesirable  location,  and  estab- 
lished in  the  city  of  Cambridge,  thus  bringing  the  Puritan 
theology  back  to  its  original  home  in  England.  The 
financial  agent  who  canvassed  the  English  Presbyterian 
Churches  for  the  supplementing  of  the  donation  of  these 
two  large-minded  and  large-hearted  ladies  was  the  Rev. 
Dr.  John  Watson,  of  Liverpool,  better  known  to  the  gen- 
eral reader  as  "Ian  Maclaren,"  author  of  Beside  the  Bon- 
nie Brier  Bush,  and  other  popular  works ;  and  for  special 
reasons  it  was  with  no  ordinary  interest  that  I  examined 
the  result  of  his  toils  in  the  outfit  with  which  the  institu- 
tion has  been  provided.  It  is  admirable.  The  location, 
indeed,  is  not  so  good  or  so  beautiful  as  that  of  Union 
Seminary,  in  Richmond,  with  its  breezy  sweeps  of  green 
campus,  and  the  building,  which  is  of  red  brick  like  ours, 
is  not  nearly  so  imposing  as  the  handsome  group  at  Rich- 
mond. Everything,  in  fact,  is  on  a  much  smaller  scale, 
naturally  so,  as  the  English  Presbyterian  Church  is  a 
much  smaller  body  than  our  Southern  Church.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  there  are  some  features  that  are  superior, 
e.  g.,  the  stairways  are  of  stone,  not  of  wood  as  with  us. 

1  Of  the  value  of  this  find  Prof.  Adolf  Harnack  says :  "As  the 
text  is  almost  completely  preserved,  this  Syrus  Sinaiticus  is  one  of 
the  most  important  witnesses ;  nay,  it  is  extremely  probable  that 
it  is  the  most  important  witness,  for  our  gospds." 


66  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

The  dining-hall  is  spacious,  comely,  cool,  inviting,  with 
ornamental  windows,  and  walls  hung  with  portraits  of 
Presbyterian  worthies,  and  the  tables  are  heavy  and  hand- 
some, of  hard  wood.  No  seminary  in  our  Southern 
Church,  or  in  the  Northern,  has  a  sufficiently  attractive 
refectory.  The  one  at  Union  Seminary  is  better  than 
most  of  them,  but  it,  too,  is  below  the  mark.  Some  be- 
nevolent person  can  do  a  great  work  for  our  future  min- 
istry by  presenting  that  institution  with  a  properly  equip- 
ped refectory  building. 

The  rooms  occupied  by  the  students  at  Westminster 
are  much  smaller  than  ours  at  Union,  and  seem  in  some 
cases  cramped,  but  there  is  a  bath-room  for  every  four 
students.  I  fear  this  will  seem  almost  a  sinful  degree  of 
cleanliness  to  those  brethren  who  a  few  years  ago  were  so 
much  opposed  to  the  introduction  of  any  bath-rooms  and 
other  modern  conveniences  into  our  seminary. 

There  are  three  professors  at  Westminster  College, 
Cambridge:  Principal  Dykes,  Dr.  Gibb,  and  Professor 
Skinner;  and  twenty-three  students,  a  slightly  smaller 
number  than  last  year. 

The  same  Difficulties  The  churches  here  are  facing  the  same 
about  candidates.  problem  that  conf  ronts  those  in  America 
as  to  an  adequate  supply  of  ministers.  The  number  of  can- 
didates is  decreasing  rapidly  in  Scotland.  Some  attribute 
this  decline  to  the  stagnant  spiritual  condition  of  the 
churches  throughout  Europe  and  America,  and  connect 
it  with  the  spread  of  devitalizing  critical  theories  con- 
cerning the  Scriptures.  But  the  zeal  and  activity  of  the 
churches  do  not  seem  to  be  deficient  in  other  particulars. 
It  is  not  a  question  to  discuss  here,  but  it  is  one  for  Chris- 
tian people  to  think  about  and  pray  over. 

The  identity  of  our  difficulties  in  America  and  Britain 
may  be  seen  again  in  the  fact  that  here  also  the  theological 


CAMBRIDGE  AND  HER  SCHOOLS.         67 

schools  are  complaining  that  the  universities  are  gradu- 
ating men  with  the  degree  of  A.  B.  who  have  never 
studied  Greek.  How  can  a  man  without  Greek  master 
the  New  Testament  in  the  original  ?  Is  it  not  clear  that 
no  man  can  be  a  thoroughly  furnished  minister  who  has 
not  studied  Greek?  Yet  some  of  our  own  colleges  in 
America,  conducted  under  Presbyterian  auspices,  are  en- 
couraging this  crippling  omission  by  offering  an  A.  B. 
course  without  Greek. 


CHAPTER  X. 
.  FROM  ENGLAND  TO  SCOTLAND  —  EASTERN  ROUTE. 

EDINBURGH,  August  23,  1902. 

SOON  after  leaving  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  the  marked 
change  in  the  scenery  of  the  country  through  which 
we  were  passing  apprised  us  of  the  fact  that  we  had 
crossed  the  border,  and  were  now  in  Scot- 

Tbe  Land  of  the 

Mountain  and    land.    Instead  of  the  level  or  gently  undu- 
tbe  Flood.          lating.  fieldSj  tilled  Uke  gar(jens,  and  the  fine 

oaks  and  other  trees  here  and  there,  giving  the  country  a 
park-like  aspect,  there  were  bold  hills  on  every  hand, 
intensely  green,  without  a  tree  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach,  and  dotted  only  with  white  sheep.  And,  instead 
of  the  tame  rivers,  winding  lazily  through  wide  meadows, 
such  as  we  had  seen  everywhere  in  England,  there  were 
brawling  brooks  dashing  down  the  ravines  with  an  energy 
that  made  them  fit  symbols  of  the  strenuous  activity  of 
the  race  whose  land  we  were  entering.  Nothing  in  a 
Scottish  landscape  is  more  striking  to  the  American  eye 
than  the  uniform  absence  of  trees  on  the  hills  and  moun- 
tains. There  are  some  forest-clad  mountains  and  ravines, 
The  Trossachs,  for  instance,  as  readers  of  Scott  will 
remember,  but  in  most  cases  there  are  only  grass,  ferns, 
and  heather.  This  has  the  effect  of  throwing  the  shape  of 
the  mountains  into  much  sharper  outline  to  the  eye  than 
is  the  case  with  our  American  mountains,  with  their  dense 
forests. 

If  we  had  had  the  choosing  of  the  conditions  under 
which  we  should  enter  Scotland,  we  would  not  have 


FROM  ENGLAND  TO  SCOTLAND.         69 

changed  them  in  any  particular.  The  afternoon  sun  was 
pouring  golden  light  over  the  hills.  The  sky  was  as  blue 
as  that  of  Italy,  save  occasional  masses  of  snow-white 
clouds  towards  the  horizon  —  what  one  of  our  party  calls 
"Williams'  shaving  soap  clouds"  —  and  the  air,  with  its 
abundance  of  ozone,  had  an  exhilarating  and  tonic  effect 
such  as  I  have  never  known  anywhere  else  in  midsummer. 
The  wizard  of  When  we  left  the  train  at  Melrose,  and  took 
the  North.  Up  our  quarters  in  the  Abbey  Hotel,  we 
found  that  our  good  fortune  continued,  as  our  rooms 
looked  right  down  upon  the  lovely  ruins,  and,  as  we  sat 
watching  them,  the  moon  rose  slowly  over  the  Tweed,  so 
tl  at  we  nad  the  opportunity  to  obey  literally  the  poet's 
counsel  in  the  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel  — 

"If  thou  wouldst  view  fair  Melrose  aright, 
Go  visit  it  by  the  pale  moonlight." 

To  one  who,  like  myself,  regards  Sir  Walter  Scott  as  the 
greatest  novelist  that  ever  lived,  the  opportunity  to  visit 
his  home  at  Abbotsford,  and  his  grave  at  Dryburgh  a 
second  time,  and  to  drink  in  the  exquisite  beauty  of  the 
Tweed  Valley  at  this  point,  is  one  to  be  thankful  for 
indeed. 

Scott  was  a  reactionary  and  a  royalist,  a  Tory  politi- 
cally, and  a  toady  socially.  He  had  an  unreasoning  rev- 
erence for  kings  and  courts.  He  never  was  in  sympathy 
with  his  countrymen  in  their  long  and  bloody,  but  finally 
successful,  struggle  against  the  tyranny  of  the  church 
and  the  state.  In  Old  Mortality,  and  elsewhere,  he  slan- 
dered the  heroic  Covenanters,  who  won  the  freedom  of 
Scotland.  In  Woodstock  and  elsewhere,  he  caricatured 
Cromwell  and  the  heroic  Puritans,  who  won  the  freedom 
of  England.  But,  with  all  this,  he  never  wrote  anything 
dirty  or  degrading,  like  so  much  of  our  latter  day  fiction. 


70  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

He  uniformly  exalted  bravery,  and  purity,  and  honor. 
Nor  should  it  ever  be  forgotten  that  towards  the  close 
of  his  life,  when  he  was  overwhelmed  by  the  disaster  that 
befell  the  publishing  house  with  which  he  was  connected, 
and  when  he  was  thus  plunged  from  independence  and 
affluence  into  poverty  and  debt,  he  gave  the  world  a 
splendid  object  lesson  of  personal  honesty,  by  setting  to 
work,  in  his  old  age,  to  discharge  his  obligations  by 
continuous,  laborious,  exhausting  work  with  his  pen.  He 
succeeded,  but  the  effort  cost  him  his  life.  He  has  given 
a  larger  amount  of  innocent  and  wholesome  pleasure  to 
the  reading  world  than  any  other  writer  that  ever  lived. 
The  unceasing  stream  of  pilgrims  to  his  home  at  Abbots- 
ford  is  but  one  of  many  indications  of  his  unwaning  popu- 
larity. 

Edinburgh  at  last !    No.  4  Atholl  Crescent. 

Temporary 

Residence  in  It  was  delightful  to  settle  down  here,  in  our 
AUW  Reekie.  rente(j  apartments,  after  long  toil  at  home 
and  long  travel  abroad,  for  a  real  rest,  with  just  enough 
walking  and  hill-climbing  daily  in  and  around  the  city  to 
give  us  a  keen  appetite  for  our  meals.  Round  the  bowl  of 
yellow  Scotch  earthenware,  in  which  our  oatmeal  porridge 
was  served  every  morning,  ran  these  lines  from  Burns : 

"Some  hae  meat  that  canna  eat, 

And  some  wad  eat  that  want  it. 
But  we  hae  meat  an'  we  can  eat, 
So  let  the  Lord  be  thankit." 

And,  as  our  appetites  sharpened  more  and  more,  with 
the  snell  air  of  the  German  Ocean,  and  the  abundant 
exercise  on  the  heath-clad  hills,  and  the  exemption  from 
wearing  responsibilities,  we  entered  more  and  more  fully 
into  the  sentiment. 

By  the  way,  the  famous  definition  given  by  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson,  in  his  Dictionary,  runs  thus,  "Oats:   A  grain, 


FROM  ENGLAND  TO  SCOTLAND.          71 

which  in  England  is  generally  given  to  horses,  but  in 
Scotland  supports  the  people."  "Aye,"  said  a  Scotchman, 
when  he  heard  it,  "and  see  what  horses  they  have  in 
England,  and  what  men  we  have  in  Scotland."  Dr.  John- 
son, who,  by  the  way,  owes  his  immortal  fame  to  a  Scotch- 
man, affected  a  dislike  for  Scotland,  and  said,  among 
other  uncomplimentary  things,  that  the  only  good  road  in 
Scotland  was  the  road  that  led  to  England. 

Our  feeling  is  exactly  contrary  to  that,  and  we  are  so 
charmed  with  what  a  good  friend  of  mine  calls  "God's 
country  north  of  the  Tweed,"  its  wonderful  beauty,  its 
matchless  romance,  its  heroic  history,  the  thronging  mem- 
ories of  its  unsurpassed  services  to  the  causes  of  religion, 
liberty,  and  letters,  that  we  shall  find  it  difficult  to  tear 
ourselves  away,  and  take  the  road  to  England  at  all. 

But  before  undertaking  to  say  anything  of  the  vast 
and  fascinating  themes  just  mentioned,  let  me  set  down, 
in  the  remaining  space  of  this  letter,  my  impressions  of 
certain  features  of  the  present-day  customs  of  the  Scot- 
tish people  in  their  public  worship. 

Public  worship  In  a  number  of  particulars  the  church 
in  Scotland.  usages  among  Presbyterians  in  England 
and  Scotland  differ  from  ours  in  America.  It  is  the  uni- 
versal custom,  when  entering  a  pew  at  the  beginning  of 
the  service,  to  bow  for  a  moment  or  so  in  silent  prayer. 
Likewise,  at  the  close  of  the  service,  when  the  minister 
pronounces  the  benediction  upon  the  standing  congrega- 
tion, all  the  people  bow  again  in  silent  prayer  before 
leaving  the  church.  They  then  rise,  and  withdraw  in  a 
quieter  and  more  reverential  manner  than  is  usual  with 
us.  In  America  it  is  not  infrequently  the  case  that  the 
moment  the  minister  says  "Amen,"  at  the  close  of  the 
benediction,  the  organist  pulls  out  all  the  stops  of  his 
instrument,  sweeps  the  keyboard  with  might  and  main, 


72  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

and  fills  the  building  with  a  crashing  tempest  of  sound, 
apparently  a  very  lively  march,  not  to  say  a  waltz,  to  the 
jubilant  strains  of  which  the  people  move  down  the  aisles, 
while,  instead  of  the  subdued  greetings  that  seem  more 
suitable  to  the  sanctuary,  they  are  straining  their  voices  to 
make  themselves  heard  over  the  uproar  of  the  music. 
Organ  choir  and  Even  m  Scotland,  however,  the  custom  of  a 
congregation,  rather  lively  postlude  from  the  organ  as  the 
people  are  retiring  is  growing,  as  in  Free  St.  Georges, 
Edinburgh,  which  has  the  best  organist  I  have  heard  in 
Great  Britain,  Mr.  Hollins.  He  is  blind,  but  I  have  never 
heard  a  man  pour  such  melody  from  an  organ,  or  lead  a 
singing  congregation  more  judiciously  and  effectively 
with  an  instrument.  At  times  he  leaves  the  organ  quite 
silent  in  the  midst  of  the  hymn,  beating  time  with  his 
hand,  and  throwing  out  the  voices  of  the  people  them- 
selves. The  organ,  as  he  uses  it,  is  not  a  crutch  for  a  lame 
congregation  to  lean  on,  but  a  vaulting  pole  for  an  active 
one  to  spring  with.  And  the  singing  is  magnificent. 
Happy  the  church  with  two  ministers  such  as  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Whyte  and  the  Rev.  Hugh  Black,  and  an  organist 
such  as  Mr.  Hollins !  Little  wonder  that  the  great  build- 
ing is  crowded  to  the  doors  at  every  service,  and  that  if 
one  wishes  to  be  sure  of  a  seat  he  must  come  a  half  hour 
before  the  time  for  the  service  to  begin.  This  is  quite  easy 
for  us  to  do,  as  the  apartments  which  we  have  occupied 
for  a  month  are  but  a  few  doors  above  the  church.  The 
church  music  in  Scotland  is  generally  far  superior  to  ours 
in  America.  Solos  and  quartettes  are  almost  unknown. 
The  choirs  are  large,  and  sit  in  front  of  the  congregation, 
just  under  the  pulpit,  and  regard  it  as  their  business,  not 
so  much  to  display  their  talents  in  rendering  difficult 
choir  pieces  as  to  lead  the  congregation  in  this  important 
part  of  the  worship  of  God.  And  the  people  sing,  gen- 


FROM  ENGLAND  TO  SCOTLAND.          73 

erally  and  heartily,  rolling  up  to  heaven  a  great  volume 
of  praise.  I  am  struck  with  the  fact  that  the  Scotch 
Presbyterians  have  continued  to  use  some  of  the  most 
majestic  and  uplifting  of  the  ancient  hymns,  such  as  the 
Te  Deum,  which  we  in  America  have  in  many  places 
ceased  to  use,  substituting  for  these  great  hymns  of  the 
ages  the  ephemeral  jingles  which  make  up  too  large  a  part 
of  our  so-called  "Gospel  Hymns."  There  is  more  both 
of  dignity  and  variety  of  the  right  sort  in  the  Scottish 
church  music,  secured  by  the  free  use  of  close  metrical 
versions  of  the  Psalms,  paraphrases  of  other  parts  of 
Scripture,  and  anthems  of  the  best  type  —  all  sung,  mark 
you,  by  the  whole  congregation,  and  not  by  the  choir 
only. 

Bibles  in  There  is  another  thing  about  the  Scotch 

The  churches,  churches  that  I  would  like  to  see  introduced 
into  every  church  in  America,  and  that  is  the  use  of  the 
Bible  by  the  people.  A  book-board  is  affixed  to  the  back 
of  every  pew,  running  the  whole  length  of  it,  and  on  this 
are  laid  a  sufficient  number  of  hymn-books  and  Bibles  for 
all  the  people  in  the  pew  behind.  When  the  preacher  is 
about  to  read  his  Scripture  lesson  (there  are  always  two 
at  the  morning  service,  one  from  the  Old  Testament,  and 
one  from  the  New),  he  announces  the  book  and  chapter, 
then  pauses  a  minute  while  the  people  turn  to  the  place, 
and,  as  he  reads,  they  follow.  So,  too,  when  he  announces 
his  text.  It  is  an  excellent  custom.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  overstate  the  value  of  it.  It  is  not  unconnected  with 
the  fact  that  the  Scotch  people,  as  a  whole,  know  more 
about  the  Bible  than  any  other  people  in  the  world. 

The  International  System  of  Sunday-school  Lessons 

has  done  more  to  promote  knowledge  of  the  Bible  than 

any  other  system  ever  generally  used  since  the  modern 

Sunday-school  came  into  existence,  notwithstanding  the 

6 


74  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

sweeping  and  indiscriminating  strictures  made  upon  it  by 
some  good  brethren  of  late.  But  that  system  is  certainly 
capable  of  improvement.  One  of  the  unfortunate  results 
charged  to  the  use  of  the  lesson  sheets  of  the  International 
series  is  the  neglect  of  the  Bible  itself.  The  children,  it  is 
said,  do  not  bring  their  Bibles  with  them,  and  do  not 
become  familiar  with  them,  as  a  whole,  in  the  Sunday- 
school.  It  is  too  true  in  many  cases.  But  are  not  their 
seniors  equally  indifferent  about  having  Bibles  in  the 
regular  service?  How  can  ministers  expect  to  bring 
about  the  desired  revival  of  expository  preaching  unless 
they  can  get  Bibles  into  the  hands  of  the  people  during 
the  service?  Suppose  that,  like  the  Scotch,  we  had  an 
adequate  supply  of  Bibles  as  a  regular  part  of  the  equip- 
ment of  our  churches  and  Sunday-schools,  would  not  this 
difficulty  about  the  neglect  of  the  Bible,  which  so  many 
charge  to  the  use  of  the  lesson  leaves,  be  effectually  met? 
Why  should  there  not  be  at  least  as  good  a  supply  of 
Bibles  in  a  church  as  of  hymn-books  ?  Never  were  Bibles 
so  cheap  as  now. 


CHAPTER  XL 
SOME  ENGLISH  AND  SCOTCH  PREACHERS. 

EDINBURGH,  August  25,  1902. 

I  ONCE  received  a  letter  from  the  late  Rev.  Dr. 
William  S.  Lacy,  saying  that  he  had  been  trying  to 
make  use  of  a  certain  work  in  one  of  the  departments  of 
theological  study,  and  asking  if  I  could  suggest  some- 
London  thing  "less  fearfully  jejune,"  an  expression 
Preachers.  which  I  have  ever  since  regarded  as  a  mas- 
terpiece of  characterization.  The  first  sermon  I  heard  in 
Europe,  preached  in  a  cathedral,  in  1896,  by  a  clergyman 
of  the  English  Church,  reminded  me  of  it,  for  it  gave  me 
an  intense  craving  for  something  "less  fearfully  jejune." 
One  of  my  ministerial  companions  remarked  that  it  was 
about  such  a  discourse  as  one  would  expect  from  a  mem- 
ber of  the  junior  class  in  Union  Seminary,  which  I 
thought  was  rather  hard  on  the  juniors.  The  other  five 
sermons  that  I  heard  from  ministers  of  the  Church  of 
England  that  year,  preached  respectively  by  Canon  Hol- 
land, Dean  Farrar,  Dr.  Wace,  Rev.  H.  R.  Haweis,  and 
Mr.  Gray,  of  Heidelberg,  were  certainly  not  jejune,  what- 
ever else  may  be  said  of  them.  At  Heidelberg  we  had 
the  good  fortune  to  meet  Prof.  Gildersleeve,  of  Baltimore, 
who  is  quite  at  home  in  the  German  university  towns,  and 
who  was  very  kind  to  us  in  every  way.  He  took  us  to  the 
English  Church  there.  Mr.  Gray  is  a  quiet,  thoughtful, 
and  edifying  preacher  —  the  right  kind  of  man,  I  should 
say,  for  a  community  of  that  sort.  Canon  Holland  —  a 
man  of  far  more  freshness  and  vigor  —  preached  in  St. 
Paul's,  and,  though  powerfully  built,  and  with  a  resonant 


76  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

and  well-managed  voice,  could  be  heard  by  only  a  small 
portion  of  the  large  congregation.  It  is  said  that  the  late 
Canon  Liddon,  the  foremost  preacher  of  the  English 
Church  in  his  time,  broke  himself  down  prematurely  by 
the  extraordinary  exertions  he  made  to  project  his  voice  to 
the  limits  of  the  great  crowds  which  gathered  in  that  vast 
building  to  hear  him.  I  have  an  eccentric  friend  in  New 
England  who  calls  the  cathedrals  "Gothic  devils,"  because 
they  hinder  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  St.  Paul's  is 
not  Gothic,  of  course,  but  it  is  worse,  perhaps,  in  point  of 
acoustics  than  any  Gothic  church  whatsoever. 

We  had  the  singular  good  fortune,  in  1896, 
to  hear  Dean  Farrar  one  evening  in  West- 
minster Abbey  in  a  discourse  which  displayed,  to  the  best 
possible  advantage,  the  exceeding  opulence  of  his  rhetoric. 
He  was  trying  to  raise  money  for  the  restoration  of  Can- 
terbury Cathedral  in  a  manner  worthy  of  its  approaching 
thirteen  hundredth  anniversary,  and  his  discourse  was  a 
review  of  the  work  of  the  English  Church  and  the  Eng- 
lish nation  during  these  thirteen  centuries.  What  a  com- 
bination of  man  and  subject  and  place  that  was!  The 
most  rhetorical  eminent  preacher  of  the  day,  discussing 
with  all  the  exuberance  of  his  splendid  diction  such  a  sub- 
ject as  "England,"  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  for  the  last 
thirteen  hundred  years,  in  such  a  place  as  Westminster 
Abbey,  surrounded  by  the  tombs  and  statues  of  England's 
mighty  dead,  the  wearers  of  her  crown,  and  the  posses- 
sors of  her  genius,  her  soldiers,  and  sailors,  and  statesmen, 
her  painters,  and  poets,  and  philosophers,  and  preachers — 

"Those  dead  but  sceptered  sovereigns 
Whose  spirits  still  rule  us  from  their  urns." 

The  rich  music,  the  soft  light,  the  dim  arches,  the 
white  statues,  the  stirring  theme,  the  sympathetic  voice, 


ENGLISH  AND  SCOTCH  PREACHERS.      77 

the  luxuriant  rhetoric  —  as  the  preacher  referred,  for  in- 
stance, to  "the  sea  which  England  has  turned  from  an 
estranging  barrier  into  an  azure  marriage  ring  for  the 
union  of  the  nations"  —  all  conspired  to  make  a  unique 
impression.  Dean  Farrar's  ornate  style  cloys  on  the  taste 
sometimes  when  one  reads  his  books,  but  when  listening 
to  his  sermons  it  was  not  so.  He  was  a  very  effective 
preacher,  and,  in  the  notable  discourse  to  which  I  have 
just  referred,  he  did  not  once  overlay  his  thought  too 
thickly  with  glittering  verbiage.  As  for  the  other  parts 
of  the  service  I  have  only  to  say  again  that  it  is  an  un- 
speakable pity  that  a  noble  service  like  that  of  the  Church 
of  England  (in  which,  as  to  its  essence,  all  evangelical 
people  can  heartily  unite)  should  be  so  commonly  made  a 
mere  matter  of  mechanical  routine,  and  artificial  and 
absurd  recitation. 

Mr.Haweisand  Mr.  Haweis  looked  like  a  small  edition  of 
Dr.  wace.  the  late  Henry  Ward  Beecher  —  long  hair, 
smooth  face,  large  mouth,  but  with  a  peculiar,  penetrating 
voice,  and  an  abrupt,  jerky  manner.  He  was  unconven- 
tional and  racy  to  the  last  degree,  and  cut  a  good  many 
"monkey  shines"  in  the  pulpit,  which  were  all  the  more 
startling  because  of  his  elaborate  white  clerical  vestments 
—  such  as  resting  his  elbow  on  the  desk,  with  his  chin  in 
his  hand,  for  the  space  of  five  minutes,  talking  all  the  time 
as  fast  as  Phillips  Brooks,  except  for  the  peculiar  "ah! 
ah!"  which  he  interjected  between  sentences  from  time  to 
time,  as  if  unable  to  find  the  word  he  wanted — then  letting 
himself  down,  and  hanging  over  the  pulpit  on  his  arm- 
pits, with  his  arms  in  front  and  his  body  behind.  His 
sermon  didn't  have  anything  to  do  with  his  text,  so  far  as 
I  could  see.  He  was  a  Broad  Churchman,  as  broad  as 
Dean  Stanley.  In  fact,  he  was  like  the  dog  of  which  the 
train  man  said,  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  as  to  the  dog's 


78  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

destination,  "I  don't  know,  an'  'ee  don't  know,  an'  no- 
body don't  know.    'Ee's  et  his  tag." 

Dr.  Wace,  in  whom  I  was  interested  as  one  of  the 
stoutest  knights  who  have  recently  measured  lances  with 
the  agnostics,  preached  a  well  written  sermon,  in  a  dull 
and  lifeless  way,  to  a  handful  of  people  at  Lincoln's  Inn 
Chapel.  But  we  should  not  forget  that  there  are  many 
Presbyterian  ministers  who,  as  one  of  our  secretaries  of 
foreign  missions  once  said,  "carry  a  load  of  dogmatic 
theology  into  the  pulpit,  and  dump  it  on  the  people,  labor- 
ing all  the  time  under  the  delusion  that  in  so  doing  they 
are  preaching  the  gospel." 

spureeon,  Parker  Some  years  ago  a  child  was  asked,  "Who 
and  Hughes.  is  the  Prime  Minister  of  England?"  and 
replied,  not  unnaturally,  "Mr.  Spurgeon."  That  Spurgeon 
has  been  called  up  still  higher,  but  in  the  great  Metropoli- 
tan Tabernacle,  which  he  built  in  London,  thousands  of 
people  still  gather  Sunday  after  Sunday  to  hear  the  gospel 
preached  by  his  son  and  successor,  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Spurgeon.  Of  course,  he  cannot  bend  the  bow  of  Ulysses. 
But,  for  that  matter,  there  is  no  preacher  living  who  can. 
Still  he  is  a  clear,  earnest,  effective  preacher.  We  were 
at  the  opposite  end  of  the  church  from  him,  but  heard 
every  word  distinctly. 

Another  dissenting  minister,  who  continues  to  draw 
great  crowds  in  London,  is  Dr.  Joseph  Parker,  and  he  is 
probably  the  ablest  preacher  in  the  city,  though  on  the 
day  I  first  heard  him,  in  1896,  he  was  so  indistinct  in  his 
utterances  at  times  that  I  found  it  almost  impossible  to 
follow  him.  There  was  an  air  of  self-importance  about 
him  which  I  trust  was  only  apparent.  We  heard  him 
again  the  other  day,  when  he  occupied  his  pulpit  for  the 
first  time  after  a  long  illness.  He  was  quite  feeble,  and 
there  were  only  occasional  brief  flashes  of  the  volcanic 


ENGLISH  AND  SCOTCH  PREACHERS.      79 

fires  which  used  to  flame  and  thunder  through  his 
preaching. 

I  heard  the  Rev.  Hugh  Price  Hughes  also,  the  leading 
Methodist  preacher  of  London,  in  a  faithful  and  striking 
exposition  of  Haggai,  an  excellent  expository  sermon,  just 
what  I  did  not  expect  from  him,  as  he  has  at  times  been 
charged  with  sensationalism. 

The  Moravians,  as  is  well  known,  lead  the  whole 
Christian  world  in  zeal  and  liberality  in  the  cause  of 
Foreign  Missions.  At  the  Moravian  chapel  in  Fetter 
Lane  we  heard  a  clear  and  helpful  sermon  from  Mr. 
Waugh,  the  minister  in  charge.  After  the  service  he 
kindly  showed  us  all  through  the  Mission  House,  the 
centre  of  that  unique  propaganda  which,  with  compara- 
tively small  resources,  has  given  the  pure  gospel  to  so 
many  remote  and  needy  portions  of  the  globe,  and  set 
the  pace  for  all  the  churches  in  the  work  of  carrying  out 
the  Great  Commission.  This  chapel  has  some  associa- 
tions with  John  Wesley;  and,  remembering  the  obliga- 
tions under  which  he  lay  to  these  earnest,  evangelical 
Christians  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  and  the  part  since 
played  by  the  great  Methodist  Church  in  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  world,  we  felt  that  the  Moravian  Mission 
House  was  an  appropriate  place  in  which  to  recall  the 
character  and  services  of  that  rightly  venerated  epoch- 
maker  and  man  of  God  who  said,  "My  parish  is  the 
world." 

I  heard  a  number  of  rich  sermons  from  Dr.  John 
Hunter,  Gipsy  Smith,  Dr.  Thornton,  Rev.  R.  J.  Campbell, 
and  Mr.  Connell.  But  the  strongest,  most  spiritual  and 
most  conforting  sermon  I  heard  in  London  was  preached 
by  the  Rev.  J.  Monro  Gibson,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  St.  John's 
Wood  Presbyterian  Church.  That  also  was  an  expository 
sermon,  as  the  best  preaching  so  often  is. 


8o  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

The  only  other  man  of  mark  whom  I  heard 

General  Booth.        .      , ,  , .  ,-.  ,  -p,       , , 

in  the  metropolis  was  General  Booth,  organ- 
izer, leader,  and  absolute  monarch  of  the  Salvation  Army, 
an  old  man  of  spare  frame,  with  shaggy,  grisled  hair  and 
beard.  His  voice  is  not  a  good  one,  but  he  commands 
perfect  attention,  and  his  sermon,  which  was  evidently 
well  thought  out,  and  which,  if  I  remember  aright,  had  but 
one  undignified  remark  in  it,  showed  the  true  nature  of 
sin,  and  laid  hold  of  the  conscience  with  power.  When 
we  entered  Exeter  Hall,  which  was  already  nearly  full  of 
people,  we  saw  on  the  platform  a  band  of  sixty  musicians, 
in  scarlet  uniforms,  leading  the  multitude  with  violins, 
cornets  and  drums,  in  a  hymn  sung  lustily  to  the  tune  of 
"Auld  Lang  Syne."  When  the  General  came  on  the  plat- 
form a  few  minutes  later,  they  received  him  with  a  cheer. 
His  sermon  was  followed  by  the  usual  uproarious  pro- 
ceedings. With  these,  of  course,  I  have  no  sympathy,  nor 
with  the  absolute  despotism  of  General  Booth,  but  the 
Salvation  Army  has  done  a  vast  deal  of  good  among  "the 
submerged  tenth."  The  census  taken  this  year  by  the 
London  News  shows,  however,  that  the  Salvation  Army 
is  on  the  decline  in  that  city,  and  the  reason  assigned  for 
it  is  the  lack  of  a  body  of  trained  preachers. 

But  Scotland  is  the  land  of  preachers.  The  greatest 
Scotchman  that  ever  lived  was  a  preacher,  and  to  him, 
John  Knox,  Scotland  is  more  indebted  for  what  she  is 
to-day  than  to  any  other  man. 

what  sir  "The  Scotch,  it  is  well  known,  are  more 

waiter  Said,  remarkable  for  the  exercise  of  their  intellec- 
tual powers  than  for  the  keenness  of  their  feelings ;  they 
are,  therefore,  more  moved  by  logic  than  by  rhetoric,  and 
more  attracted  by  acute  and  argumentative  reasoning  on 
doctrinal  points  than  influenced  by  the  enthusiastic  ap- 
peals to  the  heart  and  to  the  passions,  by  which  the  popu- 


ENGLISH  AND  SCOTCH  PREACHERS.      81 

lar  preachers  in  other  countries  win  the  favor  of  their 
hearers."  So  wrote  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  no  doubt  there 
is  truth  in  it ;  but  we  must  not  underestimate  the  quick- 
ness and  depth  of  their  feelings.  It  was  an  apparently 
hard-natured  Scotchman  of  our  own  day  who  wrote  the 
following  more  balanced  estimate,  "It's  a  God's  mercy  1 
was  born  a  Scotchman,  for  I  do  not  see  how  I  could  ever 
have  been  contented  to  be  anything  else.  The  little, 
plucky,  dour  nation,  set  in  her  own  ways,  and  getting 
them,  too,  level-headed  and  shrewd,  and  yet  so  lovingly 
weak,  so  fond,  so  led  away  by  song  or  story,  so  easily 
touched  to  fine  issues,  so  real,  so  true."  Carlyle  said 
Burns  was  the  seolian  harp  of  nature  against  which  the 
rude  winds  of  adversity  blew,  only  to  be  transmuted  in 
their  passage  into  heavenly  music.  But  no  people  without 
tender  and  strong  feelings  could  have  produced  or  ap- 
preciated such  a  poet  as  Burns.  (By  the  way,  I  was 
astonished  to  discover,  in  1896,  that  there  were  more 
than  thirty  thousand  visitors  annually  to  the  birthplace  of 
Burns,  as  against  only  twenty  thousand  to  the  birthplace 
of  Shakespeare.)  Moreover,  no  people  without  the  right 
kind  of  feeling,  and  plenty  of  it  —  aye,  and  of  enthusiasm, 
too  —  could  have  accomplished  what  Scotland  has  done. 
With  a  rigorous  climate  and  a  small  country,  much  of  it 
wild  and  untillable  mountain  and  moor,  and  with  fewer 
people  in  the  whole  country  than  in  the  city  of  London, 
Scotland  — 

"On  with  toil  of  heart  and  knees  and  hand, 
Through  the  long  gorge  to  the  far  light  hath  won 
Her  path  upward  and  prevailed," 

and  to-day  she  wields  an  influence  in  the  world  out  of  all 
proportion  to  her  population  and  resources.  In  fact,  the 
Scotch  are  in  many  respects  the  greatest  people  of  modern 
times. 


82  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

But  I   have   wandered   from  my   subject, 

Dr.  Marcus  Dods.         ,  .    ,  r-       ,    i  1  •  j  1 

which  was  Scotch  preaching  and  preachers. 
I  heard  four  eminent  men  in  Edinburgh,  on  my  first  visit 
there  six  years  ago  —  Prof.  A.  B.  Davidson,  Prof.  Marcus 
Dods,  Dr.  Alexander  Whyte,  and  Dr.  George  Matheson. 
Prof.  Davidson's  voice,  manner  and  style  were  much 
better  adapted  to  a  small  class-room,  with  its  detailed 
linguistic  and  exegetical  methods,  than  to  popular  preach- 
ing in  a  large  church.  But  if  there  was  some  disappoint- 
ment in  regard  to  the  preaching  of  the  learned  and  famous 
author  of  the  Hebrew  grammars,  and  the  father  of  the 
whole  liberal,  not  to  say  radical,  movement  in  Biblical 
Criticism,  which  has  swept  all  Scotland  into  its  vortex, 
there  was  none  in  regard  to  that  of  his  brilliant  colleague, 
Dr.  Dods.  Many  of  my  readers  are  familiar  with  the  late 
Dr.  Henry  C.  Alexander's  high  estimate  of  Dr.  Dods' 
work  on  New  Testament  Introduction,  which  he  used  as  a 
text-book  in  Union  Seminary,  and  with  the  general  ex- 
cellence of  his  luminous  and  suggestive  commentaries, 
though  some  of  them  are  unfortunately  marred  by  the 
obtrusion  of  views  which  are  not  altogether  satisfactory. 
But  probably  few  readers,  even  of  his  best  books,  would 
have  expected  from  him  a  sermon  so  sane,  and  sound,  and 
spiritual  as  that  which  I  heard  from  him.  It  was  fully 
written,  and  very  quietly  read,  with  absolutely  no  action, 
and  with  a  modest  and  even  diffident  manner,  but  before 
he  had  uttered  half  a  dozen  sentences,  the  originality  and 
power  of  the  thought,  and  the  freshness  and  vigor  of  the 
language,  laid  the  hearer  under  the  spell  of  a  master,  and, 
as  he  proceeded,  first  with  keen  analysis  and  irrefutable 
argument,  and  then  with  those  considerations  which  can 
never  be  adduced  save  by  a  man  who  has  had  experience, 
who  knows  sin,  and  struggle,  and  salvation,  your  sense  of 


ENGLISH  AND  SCOTCH  PREACHERS.      83 

the  preacher's  power  was  succeeded,  or  rather  accom- 
panied, by  a  sense  of  his  sympathy,  and  you  were  ready 
to  accompany  him  to  his  high  practical  conclusion,  and 
left  the  church  assured  that  he  had,  under  God,  given  you 
a  real  and  abiding  spiritual  uplift. 

Dr.  George  The   only   other  man   who   impressed   me 

Matheson.  deeply,  on  my  former  visit  to  Edinburgh, 
was  Dr.  Matheson.  He  is  antipodal  to  Prof.  Dods  in  his 
style  of  preaching.  He  is  blind,  as  you  know,  and  was 
led  in  from  the  vestry  to  the  pulpit,  a  large  man,  with 
gray  hair  and  beard,  and  a  ruddy  and,  radiant  face,  de- 
spite his  sightless  eyes,  as  though  he  walked  continually 
in  the  white  vision  of  the  Invisible.  His  short,  fervent, 
pointed  prayers  seemed  to  put  every  earnest  hearer  into 
sensible  communion  with  the  Father  of  our  spirits,  and 
his  sermon  on  the  great  disappointments  and  mysteries 
of  life  was  most  satisfying  and  comforting,  and  was  de- 
livered with  rare  animation  and  unction,  the  rich  fancy 
and  glowing  language  justifying  the  remark  made  to  me 
afterwards  by  an  eminent  Scotchman,  that  Matheson  was 
a  poet  as  well  as  a  preacher.  I  must  add  that  some  of  my 
friends  who  went  to  hear  him  afterwards,  on  the  ground 
of  my  enthusiastic  recommendation,  were  disappointed, 
saying  that  his  exegesis  was  illegitimate,  and  that  he 
treated  his  text  after  the  manner  of  Origen  and  the  Alle- 
gorizers.  But  we  must  remember  that  even  Spurgeon 
was  often  guilty  of  that.  This  does  not  excuse  it,  of 
course.  It  only  shows  that  a  man  may  sometimes  do  it, 
and  yet  be  a  great  preacher. 

Dr.whyteand     Dr.  Whyte,  of  Free  St.  George's,  is  reek- 
Mr.  Black.        one(j  by  many  the  ablest  preacher  in  Edin- 
burgh.   I  was  in  his  church  on  my  former  visit  to  Scot- 
land, when  he  preached  a  deeply  moving  sermon  in  con- 


84  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

nection  with  a  communion  service.  Unfortunately  for  us, 
he  was  absent  from  the  city  during  the  whole  of  our  stay 
this  time.  But  his  brilliant  young  associate,  the  Rev. 
Hugh  Black,  leaves  one  no  ground  for  complaint  as  to  the 
quality  of  the  preaching  in  Edinburgh  in  the  summer. 
He  is  a  very  highly  cultivated  man,  and  an  original  and 
suggestive  preacher,  but  with  no  special  advantages  of 
manner.  He  is  slender,  pallid,  nervous,  with  a  rather 
pleasing  voice  in  its  lower  tones,  but  of  limited  range, 
breaking  if  he  attempts  to  raise  it.  This  shuts  him  out 
from  some  of  the  best  oratorical  effects.  But  what  he 
lacks  in  voice  and  manner  he  makes  up  in  richness  of 
matter,  and  finish  of  style.  He  is  well  known  as  the 
author  of  Friendship  and  Culture  and  Restraint,  two 
books  which  have  had  a  wide  circulation  in  America. 
We  have  made  his  church  our  regular  place  of  worship, 
and  have  been  drawn  away  from  it  only  occasionally  by 
the  desire  to  hear  such  well-known  veterans  as  Dr.  Mc- 
Gregor, of  St.  Cu'thbert's  Established  Church,  and  Dr. 
Hood  Wilson,  the  retiring  pastor  of  Barclay  Free  Church. 
This  last,  by  the  way,  is  a  curious,  but  rather  striking 
stone  building,  with  the  most  hideous  interior  I  have  ever 
seen.  It  is  a  night-mare  of  bad  taste. 

We  have  heard  at  other  times  Prof.  Orr,  author  of 
various  works  of  value  in  the  department  of  Dogmatic 
Theology,  the  Rev.  P.  Carnegie  Simpson,  of  Glasgow, 
author  of  The  Fact  of  Christ,  and  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Burns,  F.  R.  S.  E.,  author  of  a  unique  and  sumptuous 
work  on  Old  Scottish  Communion  Plate. 
The  inevitable  To  Mr.  Burns  I  am  indebted  for  an  intro- 
Subject.  duction  to  Prof.  Sayce,  of  Oxford,  and  for 

a  delightful  hour  at  tea  with  the  famous  archaeologist  and 
author  in  his  house  at  Edinburgh,  where  he  spends  most 


ENGLISH  AND  SCOTCH  PREACHERS.      85 

of  the  summer.  He  generally  lives  on  a  houseboat  on  the 
Nile  in  winter,  and  the  weather  in  Edinburgh  this  sum- 
mer has  been  such  as  to  make  him  long  for  that  house- 
boat, and  that  soft  Egyptian  climate  more  than  ever. 
When  we  reached  the  city  a  month  ago,  we  found  much 
the  same  kind  of  weather  that  greeted  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots  on  her  return  from  France,  and  of  which  John 
Knox  wrote  as  follows,  "The  very  face  of  heaven  did 
manifestlie  speak  what  comfort  was  brought  to  this  coun- 
try with  hir  —  to  wit,  sorrow,  dolour,  darkness  and  all 
impiety  —  for  in  the  memorie  of  man  never  was  seen 
more  dolorous  face  of  the  heavens  than  was  at  her  arryvall 
.  .  the  myst  was  so  thick  that  skairse  micht  onie 
man  espy  another;  and  the  sun  was  not  seyn  to  shyne 
two  days  befoir  nor  two  days  after."  We  had  mists  a 
plenty,  but  it  was  the  cold  weather  and  the  rain  that  inter- 
fered most  with  our  plans.  It  actually  did  rain  nearly 
every  day,  and  often  four  or  five  times  a  day,  not  mere 
showers,  but  drenching  rains.  In  fact,  the  kind  of 
weather  we  had  nearly  all  the  time,  not  only  in  Edinburgh, 
but  throughout  Scotland  and  England,  gave  us  a  keen 
appreciation  of  the  following  story  of  the  London  weather 
which  we  find  in  the  Manchester  Guardian: 

"The  scene  was  a  Strand  omnibus.  A  leaden  sky  was 
overhead,  the  rain  poured  down  uncompromisingly,  mud 
was  underfoot.  A  red-capped  Parsee,  who  had  been  sit- 
ting near  the  dripping  driver,  got  down  as  the  conductor 
came  up.  "What  sort  o'  chap  is  that,'  asked  the  driver. 
'Don't  yer  know  that,'  answered  the  conductor.  'Why, 
that's  one  o'  them  Indians  that  worship  the  sun !'  'Wor- 
ships the  sun?'  said  the  shivering  driver.  'I  suppose 
'e's  come  over  'ere  to  'ave  a  rest !' 

"This  recalls  the  reply  given  on  one  occasion  by  an 
Eastern  potentate  to  Queen  Victoria,  who  asked  him 


86  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

whether  his  people  did  not  worship  the  sun.  'Yes,  your 
Majesty,'  said  the  Oriental,  'and  if  you  saw  him  you 
would  worship  him  also.'  * 

However,  if  I  begin  to  write  about  Scotch  weather,  I 
shall  never  get  back  to  my  proper  subject,  which  is  Scotch 
preaching. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
ECHOES  OF  A  SPICY  BOOK  ON  SCOTLAND. 

EDINBURGH,  August  26,  1902. 

THE  mention  of  St.  Cuthbert's,  where  we  heard  an 
excellent  coronation  sermon  by  Dr.  McGregor,  re- 
minds me  of  the  prayer  offered  in  St.  Cuthbert's  by  the 
Rev.  Neill  McVicar,  in  1745,  just  after  the  Young  Pre- 
unique  Prayer  for  tender  had  won  the  battle  of  Prestonpans. 
Prince  Charlie.  A  message  was  sent  to  the  Edinburgh  min- 
isters, in  the  name  of  "Charles  Prince  Regent,"  desiring 
them  to  open  their  churches  next  day  as  usual.  Me  Vicar 
preached  to  a  large  congregation,  many  of  whom  were 
armed  Highlanders,  and  prayed  for  George  II.,  the  reign- 
ing monarch,  and  also  for  Charles  Edward,  the  Young 
Pretender,  in  the  following  terms,  "Bless  the  king !  Thou 
knowest  what  king  I  mean.  May  the  crown  sit  long  upon 
his  head !  As  for  that  young  man  who  has  come  among 
us  to  seek  an  earthly  crown,  we  beseech  thee  to  take  him 
to  thyself,  and  give  him  a  crown  of  glory !" 

One  of  our  pleasant  excursions,  of  which  we  have 
made  many  since  coming  to  Edinburgh,  was  to  the  field 
of  Prestonpans,  where  the  Young  Pretender  won  his  de- 
lusive victory,  a  field  made  familiar  to  many  by  the  vivid 
description  in  Wauerley.  An  aged  tree,  now  supported 
and  braced  by  iron  rods  and  wires,  is  pointed  out  as  that 
under  which  the  Pretender  stood  during  part  of  the  en- 
gagement. Under  this  tree,  in  the  tall  wheat,  overlooking 
the  peaceful  fields  and  the  shining  sea,  our  photographers 
insisted  that  a  picture  should  be  taken  of  some  of  the 
party,  weary  and  dusty,  and  I  fear  untidy  as  we  were. 


88  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Half  a  mile  away,  and  within  a  few  feet  of  the  railway, 
stands  the  monument  to  Col.  Gardiner,  who  was  killed  in 
this  battle,  and  of  whom  Scott  gives  such  a  striking 
account  in  the  first  of  his  immortal  romances. 
church-going  But  there  I  go  again,  instead  of  finishing 
in  Edinburgh.  the  subject  of  church  services.  In  Kate 
Douglas  Wiggin's  sparkling  volume,  entitled  Penelope's 
Progress,  there  is  an  amusing  description  of  the  perplexity 
of  a  young  woman  from  America,  on  noticing  from  her 
window  the  great  crowds  of  people  on  the  streets  of  Edin- 
burgh on  Sunday  morning,  her  speculations  as  to  the 
cause  —  "Do  you  suppose  it  is  a  fire?"  —  and  her  amaze- 
ment at  discovering  that  they  were  all  going  to  church. 
And  truly  the  Scotch  people  are  great  church-goers.  No- 
thing like  it  is  ever  seen  on  our  side  of  the  ocean,  except 
in  the  predominantly  Scotch  cities  of  Canada. 

"I  have  never  seen  such  attention,  such  concentration, 
as  in  these  great  congregations  of  the  Edinburgh 
churches.  As  nearly  as  I  can  judge,  it  is  intellectual 
rather  than  emotional;  but  it  is  not  a  tribute  paid  to 
eloquence  alone,  it  is  habitual  and  universal,  and  is 
yielded  loyally  to  insufferable  dullness  when  occasion 
demands. 

"When  the  text  is  announced,  there  is  an 

The  Bibles.  . 

indescribable  rhythmic  movement  forward, 
followed  by  a  concerted  rustle  of  Bible  leaves;  not  the 
rustle  of  a  few  Bibles  in  a  few  pious  pews,  but  the  rustle 
of  all  of  them  in  all  the  pews  —  and  there  are  more  Bibles 
in  an  Edinburgh  Presbyterian  Church  than  one  ever  sees 
anywhere  else,  unless  it  be  in  the  warehouses  of  the  Bible 
Societies. 

"The  text  is  read  twice  clearly,  and  another  rhythmical 
movement  follows,  when  the  books  are  replaced  on  the 
shelves.  Then  there  is  a  delightful  settling  back  of  the 


A  SPICY  BOOK  ON  SCOTLAND.  89 

entire  congregation,  a  snuggling  comfortably  into  corners, 
and  a  fitting  of  shoulders  to  the  pews  —  not  to  sleep,  how- 
ever ;  an  older  generation  may  have  done  that  under  the 
strain  of  a  two-hour  'wearifu'  dreich'  sermon,  but  these 
church-goers  are  not  to  be  caught  napping.  They  wear, 
on  the  contrary,  a  keen,  expectant,  critical  look,  which 
must  be  inexpressibly  encouraging  to  the  minister,  if  he 
has  anything  to  say.  If  he  has  not  (and  this  is  a  possi- 
bility in  Edinburgh,  as  it  is  everywhere  else),  then  I  am 
sure  it  is  wisdom  for  the  beadle  to  lock  him  in  (the 
pulpit)  lest  he  flee  when  he  meets  those  searching  eyes. 
"The  Edinburgh  sermon,  though  doubtless 

The  Sermon.  .  , 

softened  in  outline  in  these  later  years,  is 
still  a  more  carefully  built  discourse  than  one  ordinarily 
hears  outside  of  Scotland,  being  constructed  on  conven- 
tional lines  of  doctrine,  exposition,  logical  inference,  and 
practical  application.  Though  modern  preachers  do  not 
announce  the  division  of  their  subject  into  heads  and  sub- 
heads, firstlies  and  secondlies  and  finallies  my  brethren, 
there  seems  to  be  the  old  framework  underneath  the  ser- 
mon, and  every  one  recognizes  it  as  moving  silently  below 
the  surface;  at  least,  I  always  fancy  that  as  the  minister 
finishes  one  point  and  attacks  another  the  younger  folk 
fix  their  eagle  eyes  on  him  afresh,  and  the  whole  congre- 
gation sits  up  straighter  and  listens  more  intently,  as  if 
making  mental  notes.  They  do  not  listen  so  much  as  if 
they  were  enthralled,  though  they  often  are,  and  have 
good  reason  to  be,  but  as  if  they  were  to  pass  an  exami- 
nation on  the  subject  afterwards;  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  this  is  the  fact. 

"The  prayers  are  many,  and  are  divided,  ap- 

The  Prayers.  '  *'  ,.  .  .   * 

parently,   like  those   of  the   liturgies,   into 
petitions,  confessions,  and  aspirations,  not  forgetting  the 
all-embracing  one  with  which  we  are  perfectly  familiar 
7 


90  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

in  our  native  land,  in  which  the  preacher  commends  to 
the  Fatherly  care  every  animate  and  inanimate  thing  not 
mentioned  specifically  in  the  foregoing  supplications.  It 
was  in  the  middle  of  this  compendious  petition,  'the  lang 
prayer,'  that  rheumatic  old  Scotch  dames  used  to  make  a 
practice  of  'cheengin'  the  fit,'  as  they  stood  devoutly 
through  it.  'When  the  meenister  comes  to  the  "ingath- 
erin'  o'  the  Gentiles,"  I  ken  weel  it's  time  to  change  legs, 
for  then  the  prayer  is  jist  half  dune/  said  a  good  sermon- 
taster  of  Fife. 

"The  organ  is  finding  its  way  rapidly  into 
the  Scottish  kirks  (how  can  the  shade  of 
John  Knox  endure  a  'kist  o'  whistles'  in  good  St.  Giles?), 
but  it  is  not  used  yet  in  some  of  those  we  attend  most  fre- 
quently. There  is  a  certain  quaint  solemnity,  a  beautiful 
austerity,  in  the  unaccompanied  singing  of  hymns,  that 
touches  me  profoundly.  I  am  often  carried  very  high  on 
the  waves  of  splendid  church  music,  when  the  organ's 
thunder  rolls  'through  vaulted  aisles,'  and  the  angelic 
voices  of  a  trained  choir  chant  the  aspirations  of  my  soul 
for  me ;  but  when  an  Edinburgh  congregation  stands,  and 
the  precentor  leads  in  that  noble  paraphrase  — 

"God  of  our  fathers,  be  the  God 
Of  their  succeeding  race," 

there  is  a  certain  ascetic  fervor  in  it  that  seems  to  me  the 
perfection  of  worship.  It  may  be  that  my  Puritan  ances- 
tors are  mainly  responsible  for  this  feeling,  or  perhaps 
my  recently  adopted  Jenny  Geddes  is  a  factor  in  it;  of 
course,  if  she  were  in  the  habit  of  flinging  fauldstules  at 
Deans,  she  was  probably  the  friend  of  truth  and  the  foe 
of  beauty,  so  far  as  it  was  in  her  power  to  separate  them." 
jenny  Geddes  Ah!  yes.  Jenny  Geddes.  Of  course,  we 
and  her  stool.  ma(je  a  pomt  of  attending  service  frequently 


A  SPICY  BOOK  ON  SCOTLAND.  91 

in  St.  Giles,  where  that  redoubtable  assailant  of  "the 
papists  and  their  apists"  hurled  her  memorable  missile. 
I  trust  the  story  is  well  known  to  many  of  my  readers, 
especially  our  young  people,  but  perhaps  all  are  not 
familiar  with  the  extremely  racy  version  of  it  written  by 
the  late  Professor  Stuart  Blackie,  one  of  the  most  bril- 
liant and  versatile  men  of  the  age,  and  given  to  me  by  a 
kinswoman  of  his,  whose  charming  hospitality  I  once  had 
the  privilege  of  enjoying  for  two  weeks ;  so  I  will  embody 
that  version  of  it  in  my  letter. 

THE  SONG  OF  MISTRESS  JENNY  GEDDES. 
Tune:    "The  British  Grenadiers." 

Some  praise  the  fair  Queen  Mary,  and  some  the  good  Queen  Bess, 

And  some  the  wise  Aspasia  beloved  by  Pericles; 

But  o'er  all  the  world's  brave  women,  there's  one  that  bears  the 

rule, 
The  valiant  Jenny  Geddes  that  flung  the  three-legged  stool. 

CHORUS  :    With  a  row  dow,  at  them  now — 
Jenny,  fling  the  stool ! 

'Twas  the  23rd  of  July  in  the  1637, 

On  Sabbath  morn,  from  high  St.  Giles  the  solemn  peal  was  given ; 

King  Charles  had  sworn  that  Scottish  men  should  pray  by  printed 

rule, 
He  sent  a  book,  but  never  dreamt  of  danger  from  a  stool. 

CHORUS  :    With  a  row  dow,  yes  I  trow, 
There's  danger  in  a  stool. 

The  Council  and  the  Judges,  with  ermined  pomp  elate, 
The  Provost  and  the  Bailies,  in  gold  and  crimson  state, 
Fair  silken  vested  ladies,  grave  Doctors  of  the  School, 
Were  there  to  please  the  king  and  learn  the  virtue  of  a  stool. 

CHORUS  :    With  a  row  dow,  yes  I  trow, 
There's  virtue  in  a  stool. 


9*  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

The  Bishop  and  the  Dean  cam'  in,  wi'  mickle  gravity, 

Right  smooth  and  sleek,  but  lordly  pride  was  lurking  in  their  e'e, 

Their  full  lawn  sleeves  were  blown  and  big  like  seals  in  briny 

pool, 
They  bare  a  book,  but  little  thought  they  soon  would  feel  a  stool. 

CHORUS  :    With  a  row  dow,  yes  I  trow, 

They'll  feel  a  three-legged  stool. 

The  Dean,  he  to  the  Altar  went,  and  with  a  solemn  look, 
He  cast  his  eyes  to  heaven  and  read  the  curious  printed  book; 
In  Jenny's  heart  the  blood  upwelled,  with  bitter  anguish  full, 
Sudden  she  started  to  her  legs,  and  stoutly  grasped  the  stool. 

CHORUS  :    With  a  row  dow,  at  them  now — 
Firmly  grasp  the  stool ! 

As  when  a  mountain  wildcat  springs  on  a  rabbit  small, 
So  Jenny  on  the  Dean  springs  with  gush  of  holy  gall — 
"Wilt  thou  say  mass  at  my  lug,  ye  popish-puling  fool  ? 
Ho!    no!"    she  said,  and  at  his  head  she  flung  the  three-legged 
stool. 

CHORUS  :    With  a  row  dow,  at  them  now — 
Jenny,  fling  the  stool ! 

A  bump !  a  thump !  a  smash !  a  crash !    Now,  gentlefolks  beware ! 
Stool  after  stool,  like  rattling  hail,  came  tirling  thro'  the  air, 
With   "Well    done,  Jenny !      Bravo,   Jenny !     That's   the  proper 

tool! 
When  the  Deil  will  out  and  shows  his  snout,  just  meet  him  with 

a  stool." 

CHORUS  :    With  a  row  dow,  at  them  now — 
There's  nothing  like  a  stool. 

The  Council  and  the  Judges  were  smitten  with  strange  fear, 
The  ladies  and  the  Bailies  their  seats  did  deftly  clear, 
The  Bishop  and  the  Dean  went  in  sorrow  and  in  dool, 
And  all  the  popish  flummery  fled  when  Jenny  showed  the  stool. 

CHORUS  :    With  a  row  dow,  at  them  now — 
Jenny,  fling  the  stool! 


A  SPICY  BOOK  ON  SCOTLAND.  93 

And  thus  a  radiant  deed  was  done  by  Jenny's  valiant  hand, 

Black  prelacy  and  popery  she  drove  from  Scottish  land, 

King  Charles,  he  was  a  shuffling  knave,  Priest  Laud  a  meddling 

fool, 
But  Jenny  was  a  woman  wise,  who  beat  them  with  a  stool. 

CHORUS  :    With  a  row  dow,  yes  I  trow, 
She  beat  them  with  a  stool. 


The  Disruption     Of  course,   too,   we  visited   St.  Andrew's 
in  1843.  Church,  in  the  newer  part  of  the  city,  on  the 

other  side  of  the  great,  picturesque  ravine  which  divides 
the  old  town  from  the  new,  because  it  was  the  scene  of 
another  epoch-making  event  in  the  ecclesiastical  history 
of  Scotland,  viz.,  the  Disruption  of  1843.  Unable  to 
abolish  the  patronage  of  livings,  by  which  certain  heritors 
or  patrons  could  appoint  any  minister  they  wished  to  a 
vacant  pastorate,  without  the  consent  of  the  congregation, 
Dr.  Chalmers  and  his  party  decided  to  take  a  very  bold 
step  in  order  to  preserve  the  freedom  of  the  church.  When 
the  Assembly  met  in  St.  Andrew's  Church,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  great  body  of  spectators,  while  a  vast  throng 
outside  awaited  the  result  with  almost  breathless  interest, 
though  not  really  believing  that  any  large  number  of  the 
ministers  would  relinquish  their  homes  and  salaries  for  the 
sake  of  a  "fantastic  principle/'  all  expectations  were  sur- 
passed when  the  Moderator,  after  reading  a  formal  pro- 
test signed  by  one  hundred  and  twenty  ministers  and 
seventy-two  elders,  left  his  place,  and  was  followed  first 
by  Dr.  Chalmers,  and  then  by  four  hundred  and  seventy 
men,  who  marched  in  a  body  to  Tanfield  Hall,  and  there 
organized  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland.  When  Lord  Jeffrey  was  told  of  it  an  hour 
later,  he  exclaimed,  "Thank  God  for  Scotland !  There  is 
not  another  country  on  earth  where  such  a  deed  could  be 


94  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

done!"  Well  might  the  Scottish  minister  remind  his 
American  visitor  of  Lord  Macaulay's  remark  that  the 
Scots  had  made  sacrifices  for  the  sake  of  religious  opinion 
for  which  there  was  no  parallel  in  the  annals  of  England. 
Many  of  my  readers  are  familiar  with  the  exceedingly 
impressive  appearance  of  this  Disruption  Assembly,  from 
the  well-known  engraving,  a  copy  of  which  hangs  in  the 
Reading  Room  of  the  Spence  Library,  at  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Richmond. 

It  would  never  do,  when  speaking  of  church 

A  Sermon-taster 

with  a  Nippy  matters  in  Edinburgh,  to  omit  Penelope's 
Tongue.  account  of  her  landlady's  breezy  comments 

on  the 'different  preachers. 

"It  is  to  Mrs.  McCollop  that  we  owe  our  chief  insight 
into  technical  church  matters,  although  we  seldom  agree 
with  her  'opeenions'  after  we  gain  our  own  experience. 
She  never  misses  hearing  one  sermon  on  a  Sabbath,  and 
oftener  she  listens  to  two  or  three.  Neither  does  she 
confine  herself  to  the  ministrations  of  a  single  preacher, 
but  roves  from  one  sanctuary  to  another,  seeking  the 
bread  of  life,  often,  however,  according  to  her  own  ac- 
count, getting  a  particularly  indigestible  'stane.' 

"She  is  thus  a  complete  guide  to  the  Edinburgh  pulpit, 
and  when  she  is  making  a  bed  in  the  morning  she  dis- 
penses criticism  in  so  large  and  impartial  a  manner  that  it 
would  make  the  flesh  of  the  "meenistry'  creep  were  it 
overheard.  I  used  to  think  Ian  Maclaren's  sermon-taster 
a  possible  exaggeration  of  an  existent  type,  but  I  now  see 
that  she  is  truth  itself. 

" 'Ye'll  be  tryin'  anither  kirk  the  morn?'  suggested 
Mrs.  McCollop,  spreading  the  clean  Sunday  sheet  over  the 
mattress.  'Wha  did  he  hear  the  Sawbath  that's  bye?  Dr. 
A.  ?  Ay,  I  ken  him  ower  weel ;  he's  been  there  for  fifteen 
years  and  mair.  Ay,  he's  a  gifted  mon  —  off  an'  on!'  with 


A  SPICY  BOOK  ON  SCOTLAND.  95 

an  emphasis  showing  clearly  that  in  her  estimation  the 
times  when  he  is  'off'  outnumber  those  when  he  is  'on.' 
.  .  .  'Ye  have  na  heard  auld  Dr.  B.  yet?'  (Here  she 
tucks  in  the  upper  sheet  tidily  at  the  foot.)  'He's  a 
graund  strachtforrit  mon,  is  Dr.  B.,  forbye  he's  growin' 
maist  awfu'  dreich  in  his  sermons,  though  when  he's  that 
wearisome  a  body  canna  heed  him  withoot  takin'  pepper- 
mints to  the  kirk,  he's  nane  the  less,  at  seventy-sax,  a 
better  mon  than  the  new  asseestant.  Div  ye  ken  the  new 
asseestant  ?  He's  a  wee  bit  finger-fed  mannie,  ower  sma' 
maist  to  wear  a  goon !  I  canna  thole  him,  wi'  his  lang- 
nebbit  words,  explainin'  and  expoundin'  the  gude  Book 
as  if  it  had  jist  come  oot!  The  auld  doctor's  nae  kirk- 
filler,  but  he  gi'es  us  fu'  measure,  pressed  down  an'  rin- 
nin'  over,  nae  bit  pickin's  like  tha  haverin'  asseestant ;  it's 
my  opeenion  he's  no  sound,  wi'  his  parleyvoos  and  his 
clishmaclavers !  .  .  .  Mr. C.?' (Now  comes  the  shaking 
and  straightening  and  smoothing  of  the  first  blanket.) 
'Ay,  he's  weel  eneuch!  I  mind  ance  he  prayed  for  our 
Free  Assembly,  an'  then  he  turned  roun'  an'  prayed  for 
the  Established,  maist  in  the  same  breath  —  he's  a  broad, 
leeberal  mon,  is  Mr.  C. !  .  .  .  Mr.  D.  ?  Ay,  I  ken  him 
fine ;  he  micht  be  waur,  though  he's  ower  fond  o'  the  kit- 
tle pairts  o'  the  Old  Testament ;  but  he  reads  his  sermon 
from  the  paper,  an'  it's  an  auld  say  in',  If  a  meenister 
canna  mind  [remember]  his  ain  discoors,  nae  mair  can 
the  congregation  be  expectit  to  mind  it.  ...  Mr.  E.  ? 
He's  my  ain  meenister.'  (She  has  a  pillow  in  her  mouth 
now,  but  though  she  is  shaking  it  as  a  terrier  would  a 
rat,  and  drawing  on  the  linen  slip  at  the  same  time,  she 
is  still  intelligible  between  the  jerks.)  'Susanna  says  his 
sermon  is  like  claith  made  o'  soond  'oo  [wool]  wi'  a'  gude 
twined  thread,  an'  wairpit  an'  weftit  wi'  doctrine.  Su- 
sanna kens  her  Bible  weel,  but  she's  never  gaed  forrit.' 


96  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

(To  'gang  forrit'  is  to  take  the  communion.)  'Dr.  F.? 
I  ca'  him  the  greetin'  doctor.  He's  aye  dingin'  the  dust 
oot  o'  the  poopit  cushions,  an'  greetin'  ower  the  sins  o' 
the  human  race,  an'  eespecial'y  of  his  ain  congregation. 
He's  waur  syne  his  last  wife  sickened  an'  slippit  awa'. 
*T  was  a  chastenin'  he'd  put  up  wi'  twice  afore,  but  he 
grat  nane  the  less.  She  was  a  bonnie  bit  body,  was  the 
third  Mistress  F. !  E'nbro  could  'a'  better  spared  the 
greetin'  doctor  than  her,  I'm  thinkin'. 

'The  Lord  giveth  and  the  Lord  taketh  away  accord- 
ing to  his  good  will  and  pleasure,'  I  ventured  piously, 
as  Mrs.  McCollop  beat  the  bolster  and  laid  it  in  place. 

'Ou  ay,'  responded  that  good  woman,  as  she  spread 
the  counterpane  over  the  pillows  in  the  way  I  particu- 
larly dislike;  'ou  ay,  but  whiles  I  think  it's  a  peety  he 
couldna  be  guidit !'  " 

Scottish  and         Finally,    I    cannot    refrain    from    quoting 
American          Francesca's  account  of  the  peppery  conver- 
sation she  had  with  the  young  Scottish  min- 
ister with  whom  she  was  destined  to  fall  in  love.     She 
returned  from  the  dinner,  at  which  she  had  met  him,  all 
out  of  sorts: 

"How  did  you  get  on  with  your  delightful  minister?" 
inquired  Salemina.  .  .  .  "He  was  quite  the  handsomest 
man  in  the  room;  who  is  he?" 

"He  is  the  Reverend  Ronald  Macdonald,  and  the  most 
disagreeable,  condescending,  ill-tempered  prig  I  ever 
met!" 

"Why,  Francesca !"  I  exclaimed.  "Lady  Baird  speaks 
of  him  as  her  favorite  nephew,  and  says  he  is  full  of 
charm." 

"He  is  just  as  full  of  charm  as  he  was  when  I  met 
him,"  returned  the  girl  nonchalantly ;  "that  is,  he  parted 
with  none  of  it  this  evening.  He  was  incorrigibly  stiff 


A  SPICY  BOOK  ON  SCOTLAND.  97 

and  rude,  and  oh !  so  Scotch !  I  believe  if  one  punctured 
him  with  a  hat  pin,  oatmeal  would  fly  into  the  air !" 

"Doubtless  you  acquainted  him,  early  in  the  evening, 
with  the  immeasurable  advantages  of  our  sleeping-car 
system,  the  superiority  of  our  fast-running  elevators,  and 
the  height  of  our  buildings?"  observed  Salemina. 

"I  mentioned  them,"  Francesca  answered  evasively. 

"You  naturally  inveighed  against  the  Scotch  climate?" 

"Oh !  I  alluded  to  it ;  but  only  when  he  had  said  that 
our  hot  summers  must  be  insufferable." 

"I  suppose  you  repeated  the  remark  you  made  at 
luncheon,  that  the  ladies  you  had  seen  in  Princes  Street 
were  excessively  plain?" 

"Yes,  I  did,"  she  replied  hotly ;  "but  that  was  because 
he  said  that  American  girls  generally  looked  bloodless  and 
frail.  He  asked  if  it  were  really  true  that  they  ate  chalk 
and  slate  pencils.  Was'n't  that  unendurable?  I  answered 
that  those  were  the  chief  solid  articles  of  food,  but  that 
after  their  complexions  were  established,  so  to  speak,  their 
parents  often  allowed  them  pickles  and  native  claret  to 
vary  the  diet." 

"What  did  he  say  to  that?"  I  asked. 

"  'Oh !'  he  said,  'quite  so,  quite  so' ;  that  was  his  in- 
variable response  to  all  my  witticisms.  Then,  when  1 
told  him  casually  that  the  shops  looked  very  small  and 
dark  and  stuffy  here,  and  that  there  were  not  as  many 
tartans  and  plaids  in  the  windows  as  we  had  expected,  he 
remarked,  that  as  to  the  latter  point,  the  American  season 
had  not  opened  yet !  Presently,  he  asserted  that  no  royal 
city  in  Europe  could  boast  ten  centuries  of  such  glorious 
and  stirring  history  as  Edinburgh.  I  said  it  did  not  ap- 
pear to  be  stirring  much  at  present,  and  that  everything 
in  Scotland  seemed  a  little  slow  to  'an  American ;  that  he 
could  have  no  idea  of  push  or  enterprise  until  he  visited  a 


98  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

city  like  Chicago.  He  retorted  that,  happily,  Edinburgh 
was  peculiarly  free  from  the  taint  of  the  ledger  and  the 
counting-house;  that  it  was  Weimar  without  a  Goethe, 
Boston  without  its  twang!" 

"Incredible!"  cried  Salemina,  deeply  wounded  in  her 
local  pride.  "He  never  could  have  said  'twang'  unless 
you  had  tried  him  beyond  measure!" 

"I  dare  say  I  did;  he  is  easily  tried,"  returned  Fran- 
cesca.  "I  asked  him,  sarcastically,  if  he  had  ever  been  in 
Boston.  'No/  he  said,  'it  is  not  necessary  to  go  there! 
And  while  we  are  discussing  these  matters,'  he  went  on, 
'how  is  your  American  dyspepsia  these  days  —  have  you 
decided  what  is  the  cause  of  it?"1 

"  'Yes,  we  have,'  said  I,  as  quick  as  a  flash ;  'we  have 
always  taken  in  more  foreigners  than  we  could  assimi- 
late !'  I  wanted  to  tell  him  that  one  Scotsman  of  his  type 
would  upset  the  national  digestion  anywhere,  but  I  re- 
strained myself." 

"I  am  glad  you  did  restrain  yourself  —  once,"  ex- 
claimed Salemina. 

And  so  on,  with  Francesca's  characterization  of  the 
Forth  Bridge  as  the  national  idol,  her  inability  to  tell 
which  way  to  turn  a  drawing  of  it  so  as  to  make  the  bridge 
right  side  up,  his  asking  her  if  doughnuts  resembled  pea- 
nuts, and  his  telling  her  he  had  heard  that  the  ministers' 
salaries  in  America  were  sometimes  paid  in  pork  and 
potatoes,  his  comments  on  international  marriages,  and 
her  conclusion,  as  she  retired  that  night,  "I  doubt  if  I 
can  sleep  for  thinking  what  a  pity  it  is  that  such  an  ego- 
tistic, bumptious,  pugnacious,  prejudiced,  insular,  bigoted 
person  should  be  so  handsome!" 

That  is  an  excellent  little  volume  to  give  one  an  idea 
of  the  kind  of  internationr.l  clashes  that  are  continually 
occurring  in  Edinburgh  nowadays.  But  we,  being  more 


A  SPICY  BOOK  ON  SCOTLAND.  99 

intent  upon  getting  into  the  more  ancient  atmosphere  of 
Scotland,  give  most  of  our  evenings  to  the  reading  aloud, 
in  the  family  circle,  of  Rob  Roy,  and  the  like,  in  prepara- 
tion for  our  proposed  tour  of  the  Highlands,  while  the 
older  members  of  the  party  acquaint  themselves  afresh 
with  the  Heart  of  Midlothian,  The  Monastery,  The  Ab- 
bot, and  the  other  works  of  the  Wizard  of  the  North, 
whose  scenes  are  laid  at  or  near  "Edina,  Scotia's  darling 
seat." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
Is  THE  SCOTTISH  CHARACTER  DEGENERATING? 

EDINBURGH,  August  27,  1902. 

OUR  stay  in  Edinburgh  has  come  to  an  end.    It  has 
been  a  delightful  month  in  spite  of  the  weather. 
Claudius  Clear  says,  "Edinburgh  is  so  beautiful  that,  for 
love  of  her  face,  she  is  forgiven  her  bitter  east  winds," 
"Mine  own  RO-      adding  that  "there  is  a  keenness,  a  rawness, 

mantic  Town."  a  chilliness  in  the  air,  which  you  do  not  find 
in  South  Britain."  So  there  is,  and  yet  we  have  been  out 
of  doors  a  great  deal,  and  have  threaded  her  streets  and 
closes,  and  climbed  her  heights  in  every  direction  —  Ar- 
thur's Seat,  Salisbury  Crags,  Calton  Hill,  The  Castle, 
Corstorphine,  The  Braid  Hills,  The  Pentlands  —  and 
made  excursions  to  the  Forth  Bridge,  Hawthornden,  Ross- 
lyn,  Duddingston  (where  the  minister  most  kindly  showed 
us,  between  showers,  everything  of  interest  in  and  around 
the  little  church  in  which  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  once  an 
elder),  Craigmillar  Castle,  Musselburgh,  North  Berwick, 
Bass  Rock  (the  dungeons  of  which  were  once  filled  with 
Covenanters,  whose  only  offence  was  adhering  to  the  form 
of  religion  which  the  king  had  bound  himself  by  his  coro- 
nation oath  to  maintain),  Tantallon  Castle,  with  its  mem- 
ories of  Marmion,  and  Rullion  Green,  with  its  memories 
of  the  Martyrs,  and,  of  course,  within  the  city,  Greyfriars 
Churchyard,  The  Grassmarket,  Holyrood  and  the  rest. 
What  a  wealth  of  beauty  and  history  and  romance ! 
The  seamy  side  Yet  there  are  some  very  criticizable  things 

ofEdinburgh.     about  Edinburgh,  such  as  the  unseemly  bill- 
ing and  cooing  of  lovers  of  the  servant  class  in  public 


SCOTTISH  CHARACTER.  101 

places,  for  instance  the  Princes  Street  Gardens,  where 
they  may  be  seen  at  almost  any  hour  of  the  day  embracing 
each  other  in  the  most  unblushing  manner,  apparently 
oblivious  of  the  passing  multitude.  There  may  be  just  as 
much  of  this  going  on  in  the  parks  of  other  cities,  but  the 
peculiar  position  of  these  lovely  gardens  in  the  great, 
green  hollow  in  the  very  centre  of  the  city,  in  plain  view 
of  the  most  crowded  streets,  and  the  most  popular  hotels, 
makes  this  impropriety  more  obtrusive  here  than  it  is  any- 
where else. 

But  worse  than  this  are  the  ever-present  proofs  of  the 
poverty,  wretchedness  and  degradation  of  great  numbers 
of  the  people.  The  slums  of  Edinburgh  are  more  con- 
stantly in  evidence  than  those  of  any  other  city  in  the 
world.  The  reason  for  this  is  not  that  the  slums  are  more 
populous  or  worse  than  those  of  other  cities,  but  that  the 
parts  of  Edinburgh  which  are  of  the  greatest  interest  to 
visitors,  viz.,  the  High  Street,  from  the  Castle  to  Holy- 
rood,  and  the  adjacent  districts,  where  the  great  families 
once  lived,  and  where  the  most  memorable  events  of  the 
city's  history  occurred,  the  parts  made  familiar  to  all 
readers  by  the  writings  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  the  his- 
torians of  Scotland,  have  long  since  been  abandoned  by 
the  better  classes,  and  are  now  occupied  by  the  poorest 
and  most  degraded.  So  that  every  reading  person  who 
visits  Edinburgh  is  brought  face  to  face,  day  after  day, 
with  all  this  squalor  and  misery;  and  it  is  so  different 
from  what  one  naturally  expects  to  find  in  Scotland,  and 
especially  in  this  ancient  and  wealthy  seat  of  learning, 
that  it  makes  a  very  strong  impression  upon  the  imagi- 
nation —  an  impression  so  strong  that  it  is  scarcely  coun- 
terbalanced, even  by  long  sojourn  in  the  scrupulously 
clean  residential  sections,  on  either  side  of  this  filthy  and 
festering  centre. 


102  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

cause  of  her  Why  should  there  be  such  a  plague  spot  in 
wretchedness,  the  heart  of  Edinburgh?  The  explanation 
cannot  be  found  in  any  lack  of  native  ability  on  the  part 
of  Scotchmen  to  overcome  the  conditions  that  bring  about 
abject  poverty.  It  is  universally  conceded  that  in  the 
qualities  which  make  for  success  in  life  the  Scots  are 
well-nigh  unrivalled.  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie  is  a  pre- 
eminent example,  but  the  thrift  of  Scotchmen  in  general 
is  a  proverb.1 

Nor  can  the  explanation  of  the  dire  poverty  and 
wretchedness  seen  in  Scotch  cities  be  found  in  their  dis- 
regard of  the  Sabbath  rest  and  the  Sabbath  worship,  as 
in  the  case  of  some  other  European  peoples,  though  there 
seems  to  be  of  late  some  relaxation  of  their  rigid  Sabba- 
tarianism. Their  strictness  in  this  matter  has  been  the 
subject  of  many  a  good  story.  One  is  told  of  a  little  girl 
in  Aberdeen,  who  brought  a  basket  of  strawberries  to  the 
minister's,  very  early  Monday  morning. 

"Thank  you,  my  little  girl,  they  are  very  nice,",  said 
the  minister;  "but  I  hope  you  did  not  pick  them  yester- 
day, for  it  was  Sunday,  you  know." 

"No,  sir,"  replied  the  child,  "but,"  she  added,  with 
some  dismay,  "they  were  growing  all  day  yesterday." 

A  devout  Scottish  minister  once  stopped  at  a  country 
inn,  in  the  northern  part  of  his  native  land,  to  pass  the 
Sunday.  The  day  was  rainy  and  close,  and  toward  night, 
as  he  sat  in  the  little  parlor  of  the  inn,  he  suggested  to  his 
landlady  that  it  would  be  desirable  to  have  one  of  the 
windows  raised,  so  that  they  might  have  some  fresh  air  in 
the  room. 

1  December,  1903. — The  Prime  Minister  of  the  British  Empire 
is  a  Scotchman.  The  leaders  of  both  parties  in  the  House  of 
Commons  are  Scotchmen.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and 
the  Archbishop  of  York,  the  two  heads  of  the  Church  of  England, 
arc  Scotchmen.  These  are  specimen  facts. 


SCOTTISH  CHARACTER.  103 

"Mon,"  said  the  old  woman,  with  stern  disapprovaJ 
written  plainly  on  her  rugged  face,  "dirina  ye  ken  that  ye 
can  hae  no  fresh  air  in  this  hoose  on  the  Sawbath?" 

Another  is  related  by  Dr.  Thomas  Guthrie,  in  his 
autobiography.  It  was  Sunday  morning,  and  Guthrie  was 
preaching,  away  from  home.  After  breakfast,  he  asked 
his  host  for  a  cup  of  hot  water  to  shave  with.  "Whist, 
whist,"  was  the  response;  "if  ye  wanted  hot  water  for 
your  toddy,  'twould  be  all  right ;  but  if  this  congregation 
kenned  that  ye  called  for  water  to  shave  with,  there  wad 
nae  be  a  soul  in  the  kirk  to  hear  ye." 
The  curse  of  This  last  incident  brings  us  in  sight  of  the 
strong  Drink.  true  explanation  of  Edinburgh's  misery. 
The  great  curse  of  Scotland  is  drunkenness.  The  real 
cause  of  the  deplorable  change  that  seems  to  be  taking 
place  in  the  character  of  her  people  is  intemperance.  Mr. 
Charles  E.  Price,  of  the  well-known  firm  of  McVittie  & 
Price,  who  is  the  prospective  Liberal  candidate  for  the 
Central  Division  of  Edinburgh,  in  a  recent  address,  made 
after  a  visit  to  our  country,  says  he  was  struck  with  the 
general  sobriety  of  the  American  people.  He  did  not  see 
eight  persons  drunk  on  the  streets  during  his  three 
months'  tour,  and  he  contrasts  this  showing  with  the 
gross  drunkenness  seen  on  the  streets  of  Edinburgh. 
He  quotes  the  startling  figures  in  the  letter  of  Lord  Bal- 
four  of  Burleigh,  to  the  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow, 
taken  from  the  annual  report  of  the  Commissioners  of 
Prisons,  according  to  which  the  number  of  commitments 
during  the  twelve  months,  1900-1901,  was,  for  England, 
571  per  hundred  thousand  of  the  population,  and  for 
Ireland,  793,  and  for  Scotland,  1,402!  That  is,  nearly 
twice  as  many  for  Scotland  as  for  Ireland,  and  nearly 
three  times  as  many  for  Scotland  as  for  England.  "Ah !" 
I  said  to  myself  sorrowfully,  "whiskey  again."  Such 


104  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

was  the  comment  of  Mr.  John  A.  Steuart,  the  Scottish 
author  and  social  reformer,  when  tins  shocking  official 
statement  appeared  in  the  newspapers ;   and,  referring  to 
Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh's  declaration,  that  the  time  has 
come  when  it  is  necessary  to  consider  whether  a  large  new 
prison  should  not  be  erected,  he  adds,  "That  is  the  com- 
mentary of  your  Secretary  of  State  on  the  morality  of  the 
countrymen  of  John  Knox."    Mr.  Steuart  goes  on  to  show 
that  the  national  drink  bill,  direct  and  indirect,  amounts 
to  the  enormous  sum  of  ^300,000,000.    "Three  hundred 
millions  sterling  and  one  hundred  thousand  human  lives, 
that  is  the  yearly  expense  of  maintaining  the  publican. 
The  South  African  war  cost  us  altogether  20,000  lives; 
during  the  period  it  lasted  the  drink  traffic  cost  us  up- 
wards of  250,000,  that  is  to  say,  for  every  soldier  who 
died  in  South  Africa,  from  wounds  or  disease,  twelve 
men  and  women  in  Britain  perished  miserably  from  strong 
drink.    Let  Christian  people  think  of  it.    ...    Nothing 
is  more  certain  than  this,  that  religion  and  the  drink 
traffic  cannot  flourish  together,  and  one  of  them  is  flour- 
ishing terribly  now.    ...    If  the  church  does  not  gird 
herself  promptly  and  vigorously  to  dispose  of  the  drink 
traffic,   the   drink  traffic   will   assuredly  dispose   of   the 
what  Mr.  Car-      church."    In  an  American  journal  I  find  the 
negie  Thinks,     statement  that,  in  writing  to  Dr.  T.  L.  Cuy- 
ler  recently,  sending  him  a  generous  contribution  to  the 
National   Temperance   Society,    Mr.   Andrew   Carnegie, 
after  expressing  his  deep  interest  in  the  temperance  cause, 
added,  "The  best  temperance  lecture  I  have  delivered 
lately  was  my  offer  of  ten  per  cent,  premium  on  their 
wages  to  all  employees  on  my  Scottish  estates  who  will 
abstain  from  intoxicating  liquors." 

Speaking  still  more  recently,  at  an  entertainment  at 
Govan,  Scotland,  Mr.  Carnegie  said  "he  wished  his  coun- 


SCOTTISH  CHARACTER.  105 

trymen  would  take  to  their  hearts  that  the  one  blot  upon 
the  people  of  Scotland  was  that  they  often  fell  from  true 
manhood  through  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquor.  There 
was  a  saying  in  America  that  a  totally  abstaining  Scots- 
man could  not  be  beaten,  and  wherever  a  Scot  has  fallen, 
it  was,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  the  hundred,  the  result 
of  intemperance.  Every  Scotsman  at  home  or  abroad  had 
in  his  keeping  part  of  the  honor  of  Scotland,  and  Scot- 
land having  so  much  more  honor  per  man  than  other 
lands,  it  followed  that  every  Scot  carried  a  greater  load 
of  honor  than  the  man  of  other  lands.  He  wished  that 
every  word  of  his  to  workmen  in  Scotland  would  cause 
them  to  reflect  upon  that,  and  to  resolve  that  henceforth 
they  would  never  disgrace  either  themselves  or  the  land 
that  gave  them  birth.  The  only  defect  of  the  Scot,  com- 
pared with  the  man  of  other  lands,  was  that  of  intemper- 
ance, which,  however,  he  rejoiced  to  know,  was  steadily 
decreasing." 

A  Lesser  One  other  ominous  feature  of  present  day 

Menace.         conditions  in  Scotland  I  find  referred  to  in 
the  following  clipping  from  a  British  journal: 

"In  Edinburgh  of  late  the  Jesuits  have  been  showing 
unwonted  activity.  Owing  partly  to  the  unsettling  effect 
of  Biblical  criticism  upon  the  average  mind,  and  partly  to 
some  utterances  by  some  of  the  leading  ministers  in  the 
Scottish  churches,  the  Society  has  evidently  deemed  the 
moment  opportune  for  pressing  the  claims  of  Rome  upon 
the  Scottish  people.  In  their  spokesman,  Father  Power, 
who  addresses  a  great  gathering  every  Sabbath  evening 
in  the  open,  they  have  an  instrument  well  fitted  for  their 
purpose.  Of  fine  presence,  manifest  learning,  and  no 
mean  orator,  he  is  bound  to  make  an  impression  on  some 
minds.  Here  is  one  sentence  from  his  last  lecture.  After 
referring  to  the  utterance  of  a  noted  Scottish  divine  in 


106  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

the  General  Assembly,  reflecting  on  some  passage  in  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  he  said,  'So  that  fundamental  basis 
being  removed  (the  Confession),  the  Presbyterian  Church 
collapsed  like  a  house  of  cards.  And  hence  I  say  that  the 
Catholic  Church  has  an  opportunity,  let  us  hope  a  God- 
given  one,  for  entering  the  field  once  occupied  by  our  late 
lamented  sister.' " 

But  he  would  be  a  sanguine  man,  indeed,  who  could 
believe  that  the  people  of  Scotland  generally  would  ever 
become  Roman  Catholics.  For  one  thing,  there  is  too 
much  printing  there.  For  the  Vicar  of  Croyden  was  a 
true  prophet  when  he  said,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Re- 
formation, "We  must  root  out  printing,  or  printing  will 
root  out  us." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
STIRLING,  THE  LAKES,  AND  GLASGOW. 

GLASGOW,  September  i,  1902. 

FROM  Stirling  Castle  we  revelled  in  the  view  which 
many  consider  the  finest  in  Scotland,  embracing,  as  it 
does,  both  Lowland  and  Highland  scenery.  We  drove 
to  the  towering,  but  rather  top-heavy  Wallace  Monument, 
on  Abbey  Crag,  and  climbed  its  winding  stone  stairway, 
for  the  sake  of  another  look  at  that  smiling  landscape,  and 
a  nearer  view  of  the  scene  of  Wallace's  victory  over 
Surrey  at  Stirling  Bridge,  in  1297.  In  one  of  the  rooms 
of  this  great  monument  we  gazed  reverently  on  the  hero's 
sword  with  a  thrill  of  our  boyhood  enthusiasm  over  Scot- 
tish Chiefs,  remembering  that  "the  sword  which  looked 
heavy  for  an  archangel  to  wield  was  light  in  his  terrible 
hand."  The  statue  of  Wallace  in  front  of  the  building 
looked  like  an  old  friend,  because  of  our  familiarity  with 
the  replica  of  it  in  Druid  Hill  Park,  presented  to  the  city 
of  Baltimore  by  Mr.  William  Wallace  Spence.  Of  course, 
we  drove,  too,  to  "Cambuskenneth's  fane,"  and  the  field 
of  Bannockburn,  where  the  "bore  stone"  may  still  be  seen. 
Memorials  of  But  the  place  that  interested  us  most  at  Stir- 
the  Martyrs.  jmg  was  the  Old  Greyfriars  Churchyard, 
adjoining  the  Castle,  with  its  monuments  of  John  Knox, 
Alexander  Henderson,  Andrew  Melville,  and  especially 
James  Renwick  and  Margaret  Wilson.  During  our  stay 
in  Edinburgh  we  had  read  and  talked  much  of  the  martyrs 
of  Scotland,  those  glorious  men  and  women  who  had  died 
for  Christ's  crown  and  covenant  in  "the  killing  time,"  — 
those  heroic  ministers,  nobles,  and  peasants,  male  and 


io8  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

female,  who  to  the  number  of  eighteen  thousand  had  laid 
down  their  lives  rather  than  submit  to  the  tyranny  and 
popery  of  the  Stuarts.  We  had  visited  repeatedly  Grey- 
friars  Churchyard  at  Edinburgh,  where  the  Covenant  was 
signed,  and  where  many  of  the  martyrs  who  were  be- 
headed in  the  adjoining  Grassmarket  are  buried.  The 
last  of  those  who  "kissed  the  Red  Maiden"  here  was  the 
youthful  and  gifted  James  Renwick.  His  statue  at  Stir- 
ling represents  a  mere  stripling  indeed.  Not  far  from 
Renwick's  statue  stands  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the 
monuments  of  the  Covenanters,  the  snow  white  group  of 
Margaret  and  Agnes  Wilson,  and  the  figure  of  an  angel 
standing  by  them.  The  inscription  is  as  follows : 

MARGARET, 

Virgin  Martyr  of  the  ocean  wave,  with  her 
likeminded  sister, 

AGNES. 

Love  many  waters  cannot  quench. 

God  saves  His  chaste  impearled  one  in  Covenant  true. 
O  Scotia's  daughters !   earnest  scan  the  page, 

And  prize  this  flower  of  grace — blood-bought  for  you. 

PSALM  ix:    19. 

Through  faith  Margaret  Wilson,  a  youthful  maiden, 
chose  rather  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ  than  to 
disown  His  holy  Cause  and  Covenant,  to  own  Eras- 
tian  usurpation,  and  conform  to  prelacy  enforced  by 
cruel  laws.  Bound  to  a  stake  within  flood  mark  of 
the  Solway  tide,  she  died  a  martyr's  death  on  nth 
May,  1685. 

I  had  had  the  satisfaction,  on  my  former  visit  to  Scot- 
land, of  seeing  many  of  the  places  around  which  the  hero- 
ism of  the  Covenanters  has  'thrown  imperishable  renown, 


MONUMENT  TO  MARGARET  WILSON,  STIRUNG. 


STIRLING,  THE  LAKES,  AND  GLASGOW.     109 

Bothwell  Bridge,  Drumclog,  Ayrsmoss,  Wigtown  (where 
a  noble  monument  to  Margaret  Wilson  and  Margaret 
McLachlan  crowns  the  highest  hill  and  overlooks  the 
sad  sands  of  Wigtown,  which  all  readers  of  The 
Men  of  the  Moss  Hags  will  remember),  also  the 
little  Duchrae  (where,  by  the  way,  Mr.  S.  R.  Crockett 
was  born),  and  Earlstoun  Castle  on  Ken  Water,  and  San- 
quhar.  At  Dumfries  one  morning,  I  had  eaten  my  break- 
fast in  the  room  where  Charles  Edward,  the  Pretender, 
the  last  of  the  Stuarts  to  curse  and  trouble  the  united 
kingdom,  had  dined  with  his  staff,  the  night  before  his 
final  withdrawal  northward;  and  at  Sanquhar,  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  same  day,  I  had  eaten  my  dinner  close  to 
the  granite  shaft  which  marks  the  spot  where  Richard 
Cameron  and  the  other  twenty  heroes  sat  their  horses  on 
that  memorable  day,  when  they  unfurled  the  blue  silken 
banner,  with  its  inscription  in  letters  of  gold  "For  Christ's 
Crown  and  Covenant,"  and  flashed  their  swords  in  the 
sunlit  air,  and  declared  themselves  independent  of  the 
tyrannical  and  perjured  house  of  Stuart  —  one  of  the  sub- 
limest  actions  in  the  history  of  human  freedom — and  the 
twenty  men  won,  though  they  themselves  perished  in  the 
conflict.  As  I  thought  of  it  all,  and  how  much  it  meant 
for  the  civil  and  religious  liberty  of  our  own  country,  I 
had  taken  off  my  hat,  and,  standing  there  in  the  street, 
had  silently  thanked  God  for  the  gift  to  Scotland  and  the 
world  of  such  men  as  Richard  Cameron  and  William  Gor- 
don and  James  Renwick. 

I  had  a  very  pleasarit  note  the  other  day  from  Mr. 
S.  R.  Crockett,  the  novelist,  in  which  he  was  kind  enough 
to  say,  "If  you  are  in  Galloway,  I  shall  be  glad  indeed  to 
see  you,"  and  in  which  he  expressed  a  lively  interest  in 
the  work  of  the  "Covenanters"  in  our  church.  In  speak- 
ing of  The  Men  of  the  Moss  Hags,  he  says,  "I  put  a  great 


no  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

deal  of  faithful  work  into  it,  but  that  very  quality  some- 
what marred  the  dramatic  element.  I  think  of  trying 
again  with  a  book  on  Peden  —  a  red-hot  one  this  time  — 
not  trying  to  hold  the  balance,  bust  going  straight  for  all 
persecutors  and  sitters-at-ease  in  the  Covenant  Zion." 

Those  who  go  to  The  Trossachs  by  way  of 

The  Lake 

scenery  of  Callander,  as  most  tourists  do,  and  as  I  did 
Scotland.  Qn  mv  form€r  visit,  miss  the  finest  scenery 
of  this  region.  Readers  of  The  Lady  of  the  Lake  natur- 
ally wish  to  go  by  Coilantogle  Ford,  Clan-Alpine's  out- 
most bound,  but  by  doing  so  they  miss  not  only  the  finest 
mountain  views  of  the  district,  but  also  the  scenes  of  Rob 
Roy,  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Forth.  So  this  time  we 
went  by  rail  from  Stirling  to  Aberfoyle,  spent  the  night 
at  the  delightful  Bailie  Nicol  Jarvie  Hotel,  antipodal  in 
every  respect  to  the  wretched  inn  of  the  clachan  described 
by  Sir  Walter,  and  took  the  coach  over  the  mountains 
next  morning  for  the  Trossachs  and  Loch  Katrine.  The 
beauty  of  the  mountains,  seen  in  this  way,  with  their  rocks 
and  ferns  and  heather  all  around  us,  and  the  glittering 
lakes  far  below  us,  was  a  revelation  even  to  one  who  had 
been  through  the  district  on  the  other  route.  At  the  Loch 
Katrine  pier  we  took  the  little  steamer  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
and  passing  Ellen's  Isle,  were  soon  favored  with  another 
memorable  view.  Surely  Ben  Venue  was  never  lovelier 
than  it  was  that  day,  with  the  sunlight  and  shadow  alter- 
nating on  its  rugged  sides.  The  Stronachlachar  Hotel, 
at  the  foot  of  the  lake,  is  another  excellent  place  of  enter- 
tainment. We  could  not  tear  ourselves  away  at  once,  so 
after  luncheon  we  rowed  on  the  lake,  and  climbed  on  the 
rocks,  and  gathered  the  heather  till  late  in  the  afternoon. 
Then  we  took  coach  for  Inversnaid.  We  thought  we  had 
seen  it  rain  in  Scotland.  We  had  not.  Those  downpours 
which  had  so  often  drenched  us  in  and  around  Edinburgh 


STIRLING,  THE  LAKES,  AND  GLASGOW,     in 

were  mere  showers  compared  to  the  floods  which  fell  upon 
us  on  that  drive  to  Inversnaid.  The  best  opportunity  I 
ever  had  to  observe,  in  perfect  comfort,  the  effect  of  a 
heavy  rain  on  Highland  scenery  was  on  a  steamboat  ride 
up  Loch  Tay  some  years  ago.  From  the  windows  of  the 
saloon  we  could  see  everything  on  both  sides.  All  the 
trickling  burns,  swollen  by  the  rain,  had  become  full  and 
foaming  streams,  and,  dashing  down  the  mossy  moun- 
tains, gave  them  the  appearance  of  immense  slopes  of 
green  velvet,  striped  from  top  to  bottom  with  ribbons  of 
silver.  But  on  this  drive  from  Stronachlachar  to  Inver- 
snaid we  were  too  busy  trying  to  keep  ourselves  dry  to 
take  account  of  the  effect  of  the  rain  on  the  scenery.  We 
were  much  more  concerned  about  its  effect  upon  our- 
selves. But  on  reaching  the  hotel  we  hung  up  our  drip- 
ping wraps,  and  were  quite  comfortable  again  in  a  few 
minutes.  Next  morning  was  fine.  We  walked  to  Rob 
Roy's  cave  in  the  tumbled  rocks  overlooking  the  water. 
We  climbed  the  hills  above  Inversnaid  Falls.  Some  of 
the  party  rowed  across  the  lake  to  the  Arrochar  moun- 
tains. From  every  point  of  view  we  were  enchanted  with 
the  loveliness  of  Loch  Lomond.  It  is  the  largest  and 
most  beautiful  of  the  Scottish  lakes.  We  left  Inversnaid 
reluctantly,  after  a  too  brief  stay  of  a  day  and  a  half,  and 
steamed  down  to  Balloch.  Taking  the  cars  there  for 
Glasgow,  we  soon  came  in  sight  of  the  gray  stone  mansion 
of  Lord  Overtoun,  standing  high  and  clear  to  the  view 
on  our  left.  The  sight  of  it  rendered  the  senior  member 
of  the  party  reminiscent  again,  and  he  told  the  others  of 
the  garden  party  given  there  to  the  Pan-Presbyterian 
Council  in  1896. 

About  850  people  had  come  by  rail  from  Glasgow  to 
Dumbarton  on  a  specially  chartered  train,  and  were  con- 
veyed the  two  or  three  miles  from  there  to  Overtoun  in 


ii2  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

breaks,  thirty-five  in  number.  Over  the  door  of  the  man- 
sion ran  the  chiselled  words,  "Let  everything  that  hath 
breath  praise  the  Lord."  The  host  and  Lady  Overtoun 
received  the  delegates  in  the  hall.  After  passing  through 
the  elegant  apartments  on  the  first  floor,  they  dispersed 
over  the  beautiful  grounds  where  ices  were  served  at 
various  places,  and  ten  pipers  of  the  celebrated  Black 
Watch,  in  their  picturesque  Highland  costume,  marched 
up  and  down  the  lawn,  playing  their  national  instrument, 
one  which,  with  its  "tangled  squeaking,"  as  Hawthorne 
calls  it,  has  always  seemed  to  me  more  picturesque  than 
musical.  At  four  o'clock  the  guests,  to  the  number  of 
nearly  one  thousand,  all  assembled  in  the  great  marquee 
which  had  been  erected  on  the  lawn,  and  were  seated  at 
tables  for  refreshments,  after  which  they  were  welcomed 
by  Lord  Overtoun  in  a  most  cordial  speech,  to  which 
responses  were  made  by  Dr.  Roberts,  Dr.  Blaikie,  Dr. 
Hoge,  Rev.  John  McNeill  and  others,  and  at  about  six 
o'clock  we  all  went  back  to  Glasgow,  fully  agreed  that  this 
was  far  and  away  the  most  elaborate  and  elegant  enter- 
tainment we  had  ever  seen. 

One  of  the  raciest  men  I  met  at  Glasgow,  on  that 
occasion,  was  the  Rev.  John  McNeill.  I  had  the  good 
fortune,  with  some  other  friends,  to  travel  in  the  same 
compartment  with  him  the  day  we  went  to  Lord  Over- 
toun's  Garden  Party.  Noticing  the  river  through  the  car 
window,  he  began  to  speak  of  the  filth  of  the  Clyde  below 
Glasgow,  and  then  naturally  enough  of  the  Chicago  river, 
which  is  probably  the  filthiest  ditch  on  this  planet,  and 
quoted  the  remark  he  had  made  while  there,  that  Peter 
could  have  walked  on  the  Chicago  river  without  faith. 
This  led  him  to  speak  of  exaggerations  in  general,  one 
especially  in  which  a  local  Scotch  orator  indulged  when 
offering  the  congratulations  of  his  community  to  the 


STIRLING,  THE  LAKES,  AND  GLASGOW.     113 

owner  of  three  or  four  small  coasting  vessels  when  he  was 
about  launching  another  one.  After  "disporting  himself 
in  the  empyrean,"  as  Dr.  Alexander  used  to  say  of  such 
sky-scrapers,  this  bailie  wound  up  with  the  statement  that 
"the  sails  of  your  ships  whiten  the  universal  seas."  The 
local  minister  was  the  next  speaker,  but  after  such  a  burst 
of  eloquence  as  the  foregoing,  his  remarks  were,  of 
course,  very  tame,  so  much  so  that  the  bailie  who  had 
covered  himself  with  glory  turned  to  another  bailie  sit- 
ting next  to  him,  and  said,  "Bailie,  mon,  some  o'  them 
that  have  never  been  to  college  can  make  a  better  speech 
than  them  that  have  been  through  the  hale  carry colium!" 
Another  example  of  unconscious  Scotch  humor,  re- 
lated, I  think,  in  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott,  was  that  of  the 
pastor  of  the  small  islands  of  Cumbrae,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Clyde,  who  was  accustomed  to  pray  that  the  Lord 
would  "bless  Great  Cumbrae  and  Little  Cumbrae  and  the 
adjacent  islands  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland."  Still  an- 
other was  that  of  the  simple  Highlanders  on  the  estates 
of  the  great  Presbyterian  nobleman,  the  Duke  of  Argyll, 
who  when  the  Duke's  son,  the  Marquis  of  Lome,  married 
the  daughter  of  Queen  Victoria,  said,  "The  Queen  must 
be  a  great  woman  if  her  daughter  could  marry  the  son  of 
McCallum  More." 

The  city  of  "Let  Glasgow  flourish  by  the  preaching  of 
Glasgow.  the  word."  From  time  immemorial  that  has 
been  the  motto  of  this  stately  city,  now  the  second  in  size 
in  Great  Britain,  numbering  some  nine  hundred  thousand 
souls.  It  should,  therefore,  be  no  surprise  that  there  are 
two  hundred  and  seventy-five  Presbyterian  churches  here. 
"Glasgow  is  the  largest  Presbyterian  city  in  the  world, 
whether  it  be  measured  by  the  number  of  churches,  of 
communicants,  or  of  aggressive  work  done  in  the  cause 
of  Christ."  It  was  in  Glasgow  that  the  first  missionary 


1 14  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

society,  to  send  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  world,  was 
formed  in  Scotland.  Glasgow  was  also  the  principal  scene 
of  the  great  home  mission  enterprise  of  Dr.  Chalmers. 
Thus,  as  Prof.  Lindsay  says,  Glasgow  has  taken  the  lead 
in  the  two  greatest  characteristics  of  modern  evangelical 
Presbyterianism  —  missions  to  the  heathen,  and  to  the 
lapsed  and  drifting  population  at  home.  Besides  what  is 
raised  by  the  churches  of  the  city,  Glasgow  spends  an- 
nually more  than  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  the 
support  of  various  charitable  institutions.  For  instance, 
over  nine  hundred  orphan  children  are  cared  for  in  the 
"homes,"  all  the  money  for  buildings  and  daily  bread 
being  sent  in,  in  answer  to  prayer.  Eighty-eight  services 
are  held  on  Sabbath  forenoons  for  non-churchgoing  lads 
and  girls,  superintended  by  two  thousand  monitors  and 
workers.  The  Boys'  Brigade  took  its  rise  in  Glasgow. 
There  are  ten  thousand  young  men  enrolled  as  members 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  These  bare 
statements  will  give  some  idea  of  the  religious  activities 
of  this  great  Presbyterian  city,  and  of  its  suitableness  as  a 
rallying  centre,  in  1896,  for  the  three  hundred  repre- 
sentatives of  that  vast  army  of  more  than  twenty  million 
people  of  God,  who,  in  every  nation  under  heaven,  march 
under  the  blue  banner,  constituting  the  largest  Protestant 
Church  in  the  world. 

Glasgow  is,  moreover,  an  ancient  seat  of  learn- 
ing, and  a  great  centre  of  commerce.  For  five  hun- 
dred years  its  University  has  shed  light  over  Scot- 
land, and  other  countries  as  well.  As  for  primary  edu- 
cation, the  official  report  says,  "it  is  a  rare  thing  now 
to  find  a  child  in  the  city,  over  ten  or  eleven  years  of  age, 
who  cannot  read  and  write.  Its  art  galleries,  museums, 
music,  lectures,  its  magnificent  municipal  buildings 
erected  at  a  cost  of  two  million  six  hundred  thousand 


STIRLING,  THE  LAKES,  AND  GLASGOW.     115 

dollars,  its  sanitary  arrangements,  under  the  influence  of 
which  the  rate  of  mortality  is  steadily  decreasing,  its 
water  system,  which,  at  a  cost  of  seventeen  million  five 
hundred  dollars,  has  brought  an  abundant  supply  of  pure 
water  from  Loch  Katrine  through  thirty-five  miles  of 
mountainous  country  —  all  are  worthy  of  the  second  city 
of  the  kingdom.  And,  as  everybody  knows,  Glasgow  is 
the  place  where  "the  stately  ocean  greyhounds"  are  built. 
Fifty-five  million  dollars  have  been  expended  in  "turning 
what  was  once  a  little  salmon  stream  into  one  of  the 
greatest  navigable  highways  of  the  world."  In  1768,  the 
Clyde,  at  low  water,  was  one  foot  deep,  where  now  it  is 
twenty-four  feet.  What  is  it  that  has  given  this  venerable 
Presbyterian  city  this  proud  position,  next  to  London? 
"Let  Glasgow  flourish  by  the  preaching  of  the  word." 
The  oid  It  is  said  that  the  word  "Glasgow"  comes 

cathedral.  from  "Glescu,"  gray  mist.  It  deserved  its 
name  when  we  arrived  there  on  the  3Oth  of  August,  1902, 
and  it  continued  to  deserve  it  throughout  our  stay.  The 
fog  was  so  heavy  and  dense  that  one  felt  almost  as  if  it 
could  be  sawn  into  slabs. 

I  can  testify  further  that  the  city  deserved  its  name 
also  on  the  i/th  of  June,  1896,  when  the  delegates 
to  the  Sixth  General  Council  of  the  Reformed  Churches 
Throughout  the  World  Holding  the  Presbyterian  System, 
gathered  in  the  Barony  Church,  and  marched  through  a 
cold  rain,  across  the  wide  paved  square,  to  the  ancient 
cathedral,  where  the  opening  sermon  was  to  be  preached. 
This  majestic  building,  now  more  than  seven  hundred 
years  old,  is  thus  described  by  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  the 
nineteenth  chapter  of  Rob  Roy,  "The  pile  is  of  a  gloomy 
and  massive,  rather  than  of  an  elegant,  style  of  Gothic 
architecture;  but  its  peculiar  character  is  so  strongly 
preserved,  and  so  well  suited  with  the  accompaniments 


Ii6  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

which  surround  it,  that  the  impression  of  the  first  view 
was  solemn  and  awful  in  the  extreme."  As  Andrew  Fair- 
service  said  to  the  hero  of  that  stirring  story,  whom  Scott 
represents  as  addressed  by  Rob  Roy  from  behind  one  of 
the  pillars  in  the  crypt,  "It's  a  brave  kirk  —  nane  o'  yer 
whigmalieries  and  curliewurlies  and  opensteek  hems  about 
it  —  a  solid,  weel-jointed  mason-wark,  that  will  stand  as 
long  as  the  world,  keep  hands  and  gunpowder  aff  it." 
And,  indeed,  it  looks  as  if  it  would.  On  the  crest  of  the 
hill,  in  the  adjacent  necropolis,  stands  a  splendid  Doric 
column  surmounted  by  a  statue  of  John  Knox. 
The  Most  Emi-  ^e  Pr€emmence  °f  Scotland  in  Theology, 
nent  citizen  Philosophy,  and  Medicine  has  long  been 
of  Glasgow.  recognized  the  world  over.  But  it  may  not 
be  known  to  all  of  my  readers  that  the  most  eminent 
scientist  now  living  is  also  a  resident  of  this  country,  a 
citizen  of  Glasgow  —  Lord  Kelvin. 

In  the  Regalia  Room  of  Edinburgh  Castle,  on  my  way 
to  Glasgow  in  1896,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting,  for  the 
first  time,  one  of  the  most  intellectual  young  men  that  the 
South  has  produced  since  the  war,  Professor  Woodrow 
Wilson,  of  Princeton  University,  a  former  fellow  student 
at  Davidson  College  of  one  of  my  fellow-travellers  at 
that  time.  He  told  us  he  was  on  his  way  to  Glasgow,  too, 
for  the  purpose  of  representing  Princeton  in  the  celebra- 
tion of  Lord  Kelvin's  jubilee.  This  veteran  professor, 
who  thus  completed  fifty  years  of  service  as  a  teacher  in 
the  University  of  Glasgow,  and  who,  by  the  way,  like  so 
many  other  epoch-makers,  is  a  Scotch-Irishman,  has  long 
been  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  eminent  scientists  of 
modern  times,  and  the  greatest  of  all  electricians.  As 
Professor  William  Thomson,  he  first  won  renown  by  the 
wonder  which  he  wrought  in  annihilating  space  by  en- 
abling us  to  telegraph  across  the  Atlantic  ocean,  for  it  was 


STIRLING,  THE  LAKES,  AND  GLASGOW.     117 

he  who  solved  the  difficulty  which,  in  1856,  threatened  to 
defeat  all  the  plans  of  the  late  Cyrus  W.  Field  just  as  he 
seemed  about  to  realize  his  gigantic  dream  of  uniting  two 
continents.  The  signals  passing  through  a  long  sub- 
marine cable  were  found*  to  "drag"  so  much  as  to  make  it 
practically  useless.  Thomson  discovered  the  law  govern- 
ing the  retardation,  and  invented  the  "mirror  instrument," 
by  which  all  the  delicate  fluctuations  of  the  varying  cur- 
rent could  be  interpreted.  "So  sensitive  is  the  arrange- 
ment that  on  one  occasion  a  signal  was  sent  to  America 
and  back  through  two  Atlantic  cables  with  the  current 
from  a  toy  battery,  made  in  a  silver  thimble  with  a  drop 
of  acidulated  water  and  a  grain  of  zinc."  By  means  of 
Thomson's  magical  apparatus,  on  August  17,  1858,  this 
message  was  flashed  from  shore  to  shore,  "Europe  and 
America  are  united  by  telegraph:  Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men."  For 
this  success  he  was  knighted.  In  1892,  after  many  other 
successes,  he  was  raised  to  the  peerage.  The  submarine 
telegraph  is  not  the  only  invention  which  connects  his 
name  with  the  sea.  By  substituting  piano-forte  wire  for 
the  old-fashioned  rope,  he  made  it  possible  to  measure 
quickly  and  accurately  the  depth  of  water  at  any  spot 
under  a  moving  ship.  When  Dr.  Toule  was  visiting  Prof. 
Thomson,  he  noticed  a  bundle  of  this  piano-forte  wire, 
and,  inquiring  what  it  was  for,  was  informed  by  Thom- 
son that  he  intended  using  it  for  "sounding  purposes." 
"What  note  ?"  innocently  inquired  Toule,  to  which  Thom- 
son promptly  replied,  "The  deep  C."  But  Lord  Kelvin's 
most  valuable  aid  to  navigation  is  the  adjustable  compass, 
which  bears  his  name,  and  which  is  now  used  on  every 
first-class  ship  in  the  world. 

So  numerous  and  useful  are  his  inventions  that  there 
is  an  establishment  at  Glasgow  devoted  solely  to  the  man- 


u8  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

ufacture  of  his  patents,  and  employing  nearly  two  hun- 
dred highly  skilled  workmen,  and  a  staff  of  electricians. 
His  home,  in  the  precincts  of  Glasgow  University,  was  the 
first  house  in  the  world  to  be  lighted  with  electricity.  It 
is  not  strange,  then,  that  we  found  the  whole  city  doing 
him  honor  on  our  arrival  in  1896,  and  scores  of  scholars 
convened  to  offer  the  congratulations  of  other  institutions 
in  every  part  of  the  world. 

Yesterday  we  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  a  very 
thoughtful  and  striking  sermon  from  the  Rev.  P.  Carnegie 
Simpson,  author  of  The  Fact  of  Christ,  a  book  which  in  a 
very  short  time  has  gained  a  deservedly  wide  circulation. 
I  am  constrained  to  believe  that,  generally  speaking,  Scot- 
tish ministers  have  more  intellectual  ability  and  better 
theological  furnishing  than  those  in  America. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
OBAN,  IONA,  AND  STAFFA. 

"For  Oban  is  a  dainty  place ; 

In  distant  lands  or  nigh  lands, 
No  town  delights  the  tourist  race 
Like  Oban  in  the  Highlands." 

CALEDONIAN  CANAL,  September  3,  1902. 

THE  fog  was  so  thick  the  morning  we  steamed  down 
the  ill-smelling  Clyde,  and  out  through  the  Kyles  of 
Bute,  that  we  could  see  nothing  whatever,  and  had  to 
content  ourselves  as  best  we  could  with  the  tantalizing 
recollections  of  one  member  of  the  party,  who  on  a  former 
occasion  had  made  an  excursion  with  some  five  hundred 
other  persons,  delegates  to  the  Glasgow  Council  and  their 
friends,  on  the  elegant  steamer,  Duchess  of  Hamilton,  up 
Loch  Long,  Loch  Goil,  and  the  Kyles  of  Bute,  with  alter- 
nating showers  and  sunshine,  getting  charming  views  of 
the  lovely  scenery  that  abounds  about  the  Firth  of  Clyde. 
But  the  atmosphere  lightened  somewhat  as  we  steamed 
through  the  Crinan  Canal,  and  as  we  approached  Oban 
it  cleared  completely,  and  gave  us  full  opportunity  to 
enjoy  the  glorious  scenery  on  every  hand. 

Situated  near  the  southern  terminus  of  the  Caledonian 

Canal,  and  also  not  far  from  the  western  isles,  and  being 

the   starting  point  of  all  excursions   through  this,  the 

wildest  and  most  romantic  region  of  Scotland,  Oban  is 

called  "the  Charing  Cross  of  the  Highlands." 

Rude  seas  ^he  ^rst  excursi°n  undertaken  by  our  party 

off  the  west     from  Oban  was  the  famous  one  to  Staffa 

and  lona,  and  in  this  we  were  so  fortunate 


120  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

that  we  almost  forgot  our  disappointment  at  the  Kyles 
of  Bute.  Frequently  the  sea  is  so  rough  in  this  windy 
region  that  passengers  cannot  be  landed  on  the  islands. 
It  was  so  on  the  day  before  our  trip,  and  also  on  the  day 
after  it.  It  seemed  to  us  rough  enough  on  the  day  we 
made  the  trip,  and  the  captain  was  doubtful  about  landing 
us  until  the  very  last.  But  the  boats  from  shore  put  out 
and  came  alongside,  swinging  on  the  waves  five  or  six 
feet  up,  and  then  quickly  down  again,  so  that  it  was 
necessary  for  us  to  step  in  promptly,  one  by  one,  just  at 
the  moment  when  they  rose  to  the  highest  point.  It 
looked  dangerous,  but  nobody  backed  out.  It  looked  still 
more  dangerous  after  we  were  in  the  tossing  boats,  with 
the  great  green  waves  running  high  all  around  us.  I 
think  several  of  the  party  had  doubts  whether  they  wouid 
ever  again  set  foot  on  land,  and  there  were  thankful 
hearts  and  deep  sighs  of  relief  when,  after  the  visit  to 
Staffa,  we  all  got  safe  back  on  the  steamer.  The  danger, 
however,  was  more  apparent  than  real.  The  boats  were 
staunch,  strongly  manned,  and  handled  with  consummate 
skill. 

lonaand  We  visited  lona  first,  a  small  island  and 

coiumba.  homely,  but  sacred  and  memorable  forever 
as  the  place  where  the  presbyter  abbot,  Coiumba,  the 
Apostle  of  Caledonia,  and  his  twelve  companions  from 
Ireland,  landed  in  A.  D.  563,  to  begin  that  series  of  toil- 
some, but  marvellously  successful  campaigns,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  evangelization  of  a  large  part  of  Scotland. 
The  tomb  of  Coiumba  is  still  shown  in  the  ancient  cathe- 
dral. For  centuries  lona  was  a  part  of  the  domain  of  the 
Duke  of  Argyll,  but  three  or  four  years  ago  the  late  Duke, 
the  author  of  The  Reign  of  Law,  presented  the  property 
to  the  Church  of  Scotland.  Since  that  time  the  cathedral 
has  been  re-roofed  and  otherwise  restored,  so  that  now  it 


OBAN,  IONA,  AND  STAFFA.  121 

presents  a  less  desolate  appearance  than  it  did  on  my  first 
visit  a  few  years  ago.  lona  was  the  burial  place  of  the 
ancient  Scottish  kings.  More  than  fifty  of  them  lie  in  the 
cemetery,  hard  by  the  cathedral,  in  graves  marked,  for 
the  most  part,  by  ancient  tombstones,  with  interesting  in- 
scriptions. The  last  of  these  kings  to  be  laid  here  was 
Duncan  I.,  who  was  murdered  by  Macbeth  about  the 
middle  of  the  eleventh  century.  Not  far  away  stands 
Maclean's  Cross,  supposed  to  be  the  oldest  in  Scotland. 
It  is  one  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  lona  crosses  which 
are  said  to  have  once  stood  on  the  island, 
staffaand  Half  an  hour  from  lona  by  the  steamer  is 

Fingai-s  cave.  Staffa.  Staff  a  means  the  "isle  of  columns." 
It  is  of  the  same  columnar  basaltic  formation  as  the 
Giant's  Causeway  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  and  was  pro- 
duced by  the  same  outpouring  of  lava  that  formed  the 
Irish  Causeway.  We  climbed  along  the  irregular  floor 
of  perfectly  formed  polygonal  columns,  which  fit  each 
other  with  absolute  exactness,  though  no  two  are  alike. 
We  stopped  for  a  moment  to  sit  down  in  Fingal's  Wishing 
Chair,  and  then  pushed  on  to  see  the  most  impressive  of 
all  these  natural  wonders  —  Fingal's  Cave  —  which  pene- 
trates the  volcanic  columns  for  a  distance  of  two  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  feet. 

"This  stupendous  basaltic  grotto  in  the  lonely  Isle  of 
Staffa  remained,  singularly  enough,  unknown  to  the  outer 
world  until  visited  by  Sir  Joseph  Banks  in  1772.  As  the 
visitors'  boat  glides  under  its  vast  portal,  the  mighty 
octagonal  columns  of  lava,  which  form  the  sides  of  the 
cavern  —  the  depth  and  strength  of  the  tide  which  rolls 
its  deep  and  heavy  swell  into  the  extremity  of  the  vault 
unseen  amid  its  vague  uncertainty  —  the  variety  of  tints 
formed  by  the  white,  crimson,  and  yellow  stalactites  which 
occupy  the  base  of  the  broken  pillars  that  form  the  roof, 
9 


122  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

and  intersect  them  with  a  rich  and  variegated  chasing  — 
the  corresponding  variety  of  tint  below  water,  where  the 
ocean  rolls  over  a  dark  red  or  violet-colored  rock,  from 
which  the  basaltic  columns  rise  —  the  tremendous  noise 
of  the  swelling  tide  mingling  with  the  deep-toned  echoes 
of  the  vault  that  stretches  far  into  the  bowels  of  the  isle  — 
form  a  combination  of  effects  without  a  parallel  in  the 
world !" 

Sir  Walter  Scott's  lines  express  the  sentiment  most 
proper  to  the  place : 

"The  shores  of  Mull  on  the  eastward  lay, 
And  Ulva  dark,  and  Colonsay, 
And  all  the  group  of  islets  gay 

That  guard  famed  Staffa  round. 
Then  all  unknown  its  columns  rose, 
Where  dark  and  undisturbed  repose 

The  cormorant  had  found, 
And  the  shy  seal  had  quiet  home, 
And  welter'd  in  that  wondrous  dome, 
Where,  as  to  shame  the  temples  deck'd 
By  skill  of  earthly  architect, 
Nature  herself,  it  seem'd,  would  raise 
A  minster  to  her  Maker's  praise! 
Not  for  a  meaner  use  ascend 
Her  columns,  or  her  arches  bend; 
Nor  of  a  theme  less  solemn  tells 
That  mighty  surge  that  ebbs  and  swells, 
And  still,  between  each  awful  pause, 
From  the  high  vault  an  answer  draws, 
In  varied  tone,  prolong'd  and  high, 
That  mocks  the  organ's  melody. 
Nor  doth  its  entrance  front  in  vain 
To  old  lona's  holy  fane, 
That  Nature's  voice  might  seem  to  say, 
'Well  hast  thou  done,  frail  child  of  clay; 
Thy  humble  powers  that  stately  shrine 
Task'd  high  and  hard — but  witness  mine !'  " 


OBAN,  IONA  AND  STAFFA.  123 

The  Groat  The  trip  from  Oban  to  Inverness,  through 

canal.  the  Caledonian  Canal,  with  its  alternating 

locks  and  lochs,  and  its  mountain  walls  on  either  side,  is 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  world  in  point  of  scenery.  It  was 
something  of  a  surprise  to  us  to  find  at  Fort  Augustus, 
half  way  up  the  canal,  the  Benedictine  Order  established 
in  a  magnificent  group  of  buildings,  which  had  been 
erected  at  a  cost  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  but  we 
presently  remembered  that  there  had  always  been  a  Ro- 
man Catholic  element  in  the  Highlands,  that  this  element 
had  ardently  supported  the  pretensions  of  Charles  Edward 
Stuart  to  the  British  crown,  and  that  Lord  Lovat,  the 
leading  Roman  Catholic  nobleman  of  the  region,  had  been 
executed  for  the  treasonable  part  he  took  in  that  affair. 
In  the  Tower  of  London  we  had  seen  the  block  on  which 
he  was  beheaded,  with  the  print  of  the  axe  showing 
plainly  in  the  wood.  In  1876  the  Lord  Lovat  of  that 
time  presented  this  splendid  property  to  the  Benedictines. 
Of  Prince  Charlie's  career  in  this  part  of  Scotland  we 
shall  have  more  to  say  in  our  next  letter. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
INVERNESS  AND  MEMORIES  OF  FLORA  MACDONALD. 

PERTH,  September  6,  1902.' 

OUR  farthest  north  on  our  European  tour  was  Inver- 
ness, the  capital  of  the  Highlands,  which  we  reached 
from  Oban  by  way  of  the  magnificent  route  through  the 
Caledonian  Canal,  and  which  we  left  by  way  of  the  rail- 
road that  runs  southwards  through  the  battlefield  of  Cul- 
loden,  where  the  Young  Pretender  was  defeated,  and  the 
cause  of  the  Stuarts  finally  overthrown  in  1746.  The 
town  has  twenty  thousand  people,  is  well  built  of  substan- 
tial materials,  a  fresh-looking  pink  stone  predominating, 
and  is  the  cleanest  city  we  have  seen  in  Great  Britain.  It 
has  a  fine  situation,  its  business  portion  occupying  the 
more  level  ground  on  both  sides  of  its  broad,  clear  river, 
while  handsome  villas  stretch  along  the  terrace  which 
rises  above  the  valley.  At  a  short  distance  from  the  town 
there  rises,  from  the  level  plain  on  the  riverside,  a  strik- 
ingly beautiful  wooded  hill,  on  the  summit  and  sides  of 
which  the  people  of  Inverness  have  made  their  ceme- 
tery, one  of  the  loveliest  of  all  the  lovely  cities  of  the 
dead. 

From  elevated  points,  and  especially  from  the  Castle 
Hill  in  the  midst  of  the  town,  one  gets  a  very  fine  view 
of  richly  diversified  scenery,  comprising,  besides  river  and 
firth  and  valley,  a  wealth  of  hills,  some  wooded  and  others 
gay  with  purple  heather  and  green  ferns.  This  central 
hill,  on  which  the  handsome  castellated  county  buildings 
now  stand,  was  the  site  of  Macbeth's  Castle,  concerning 
which  Shakespeare  represents  King  Duncan  as  saying, 


STATUE  OF  FI OKA  ^fACnONALD — INVERNESS. 


INVERNESS  AND  FLORA  MACDONALD.     125 

"This  castle  hath  a  pleasant  seat;  the  air  nimbly  and 
sweetly  recommends  itself  unto  our  gentle  senses."  Just 
in  front  of  the  buildings  which  now  occupy  this  celebrated 
site  stands  a  graceful  statue  of  Flora  Macdonald.  She  is 
represented  as  a  comely  young  woman,  with  her  left  hand 
lightly  holding  her  dress  skirt,  and  her  right  raised  as 
though  shading  her  eyes,  while  she  gazes  intently  across 
the  water.  A  very  finely  executed  Scotch  collie  at  her 
side  looks  up  into  her  face.1 
.  _  Being  a  native  of  North  Carolina,  and  hav- 

The  Career 

of  a  Royal       ing  most  pleasant  memories  of  the  High- 
Adventurer.     land  Scotch  communities  of  the  Cape  Fear 

country,  and  the  fine  old  town  of  Fayetteville,  where  Flora 
Macdonald  lived  during  a  portion  of  her  maturer  life,  I 
was  delighted  to  be  thus  reminded  that  I  was  now  so  near 
the  scenes  connected  with  the  romantic  incidents  of  her 
younger  days,  when,  at  the  peril  of  her  own  life,  she  saved 
the  worthless  life  of  Prince  Charles  Stuart,  the  Young 
Pretender  to  the  British  throne. 

Students  of  that  period  of  English  history,  or  readers 
of  Waverly,  that  immortal  romance,  which,  as  the  first 
venture  of  its  then  unknown  author  in  this  line  of  litera- 
ture, gave  its  name  to  the  whole  series  of  those  unrivalled 
historical  romances  which  were  put  forth  thereafter  in 
rapid  succession  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  which  have 
given  a  greater  amount  of  wholesome  pleasure  to  the 
world  of  readers  in  general  than  any  other  series  of  books 
that  were  ever  written  —  students  of  history  and  readers 
of  Waverly,  I  say,  will  remember,  that  after  the  Pre- 
tender's delusive  victory  at  Prestonpans,  near  Edinburgh, 

1  Three  or  four  months  after  our  visit  to  Inverness,  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  the  sculptor  of  this  striking  statue,  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Davidson,  of  Rome,  and  of  talking  with  him  at  large  about 
the  heroine  of  the  Highlands. 


126  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

and  his  disappointment  at  the  failure  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic population  of  western  England  to  rise  in  support  of 
his  cause,  he  fell  back  to  the  northern  part  of  Scotland, 
and  there,  on  the  desolate  moor  of  Culloden,  four  miles 
from  Inverness,  he  was  overwhelmingly  defeated  by  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  and  his  army  of  devoted  High- 
landers cut  to  pieces.  Over  that  bloody  field  the  star  of 
the  Stuarts,  a  race  which  had  so  long  been  a  curse  to 
Great  Britain,  sank  to  rise  no  more,  and  the  Protestant 
succession  has  never  since  been  seriously  called  in  ques- 
tion. 

A  Fugitive  in  The  Pretender,  with  a  few  faithful  friends, 
the  Hebrides.  fle(j  through  the  wild  country  to  the  south- 
west, and,  after  many  hardships  and  hairbreadth  escapes, 
reached  the  Outer  Hebrides,  and  was  concealed  in  a  cave 
there,  on  the  wet  and  windy  island  of  Benbecula.  But 
the  fact  that  he  was  on  this  island  soon  became  known  to 
the  government,  and  then  his  position  became  perilous  in 
the  extreme.  By  sea  and  land  every  precaution  was  taken 
to  prevent  his  escape,  every  road,  pass  and  landing  place 
being  guarded,  and  the  whole  coast  being  patrolled  by 
government  vessels  in  such  numbers  that  no  craft,  how- 
ever small,  could  approach  or  leave  the  island  unobserved, 
except  perhaps  under  cover  of  darkness  by  special  good 
fortune,  while  some  two  thousand  soldiers  made  diligent 
search  on  shore ;  in  addition  to  which  a  prize  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars  was  offered  for  his  cap- 
ture. In  this  crisis  of  his  affairs  it  was  agreed  that  a  final 
attempt  for  his  rescue  should  be  made  through  the  agency 
of  a  young  lady  of  the  neighborhood,  Miss  Flora  Mac- 
donald,  then  twenty-four  years  of  age,  two  years  younger 
than  the  Prince  himself,  but  whose  selection  for  his  peril- 
ous office  argues  a  prudence  and  strength  of  character  far 
beyond  her  years. 


INVERNESS  AND  FLORA  MACDONALD.     127 

A  woman  This  remarkable  young  woman  was  well 

to  the  Rescue,  born,  being  the  granddaughter  of  the  Rev. 
Angus  Macdonald,  known  throughout  the  Isles  as  "the 
strong  minister,"  on  account  of  his  extraordinary  physical 
strength.  She  was  also  well  bred,  and  well  educated, 
having  enjoyed  not  only  the  advantages  of  her  own  home, 
and  of  the  other  respectable  families  of  her  native  island, 
but  also  the  benefit  of  long  residence  in  the  home  of  her 
kinsman,  Sir  Alexander  Macdonald,  of  Monkstadt,  in  the 
Island  of  Skye,  and  of  three  years  in  the  Ladies'  Seminary 
of  Miss  Henderson,  at  Edinburgh.  Sir  Alexander  was 
loyal  to  the  house  of  Hanover,  and  had  refused  to  take 
any  part  in  supporting  the  pretensions  of  Prince  Charles. 
Flora  also  was  indifferent  to  the,  claim  of  the  Stuarts,  and 
saved  the  Pretender's  life  out  of  pure  compassion.  In- 
deed, afterwards,  when  she  had  been  released  from  her 
imprisonment  at  London  on  the  charge  of  treason,  and 
the  Prince  of  Wales  called  on  her  and  asked  her,  half 
jocularly,  how  she  dared  to  assist  a  rebel  against  his 
father's  throne,  she  answered  with  characteristic  simplicity 
and  firmness  that  she  would  have  done  the  same  thing  for 
him  had  she  found  him  in  like  distress. 

The  plan  adopted,  and  successfully  carried 

Feminine  J 

courage  and  out,  for  the  escape  of  the  Pretender  from 
Resource.  Bcnbecula  to  Skye  was  this :  Our  heroine, 
having  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  visit  her  mother,  then 
living  in  Skye,  procured  a  passport  for  herself  and  two 
servants  from  her  stepfather,  Captain  Hugh  Macdonald, 
who,  though  in  command  of  a  body  of  the  King's  militia 
on  Benbecula,  shared  the  general  compassion  for  the 
beaten  Prince,  and  the  general  desire  that  he  might  escape 
with  his  life.  One  of  these  servants  was  Neil  Macdonald, 
a  faithful,  intelligent,  and  pretty  well  educated  youth, 
who  had  spent  several  years  in  Paris,  and,  therefore,  spoke 


128  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

French  fluently,  and  who,  after  the  adventures  with  which 
we  are  here  concerned,  followed  the  Pretender  to  France, 
and  became  the  father  of  the  celebrated  Marshal  Macdon- 
ald,  Duke  of  Tarentum,  one  of  Napoleon's  great  generals. 
The  other,  ostensibly  an  awkward  and  overgrown  Irish 
girl,  was  in  reality  Prince  Charles  himself.  With  the 
principal  member  of  the  party  thus  disguised,  and  armed 
with  the  passport  for  use  in  case  of  need,  these  three,  with 
a  picked  boat  crew  of  six,  set  out  on  a  dark  night  when  the 
rain  was  falling  in  torrents,  and,  after  an  exceedingly 
tempestuous  and  perilous  voyage,  arrived  safely  in  Skye, 
where  the  coolness,  courage  and  resourcefulness  of  Flora 
Macdonald  baffled  the  King's  officers,  overcame  all  diffi- 
culties, and  eventually  accomplished  the  desired  end  of 
getting  the  Pretender  to  the  mainland,  whence,  after  three 
months  more  of  severe  hardships,  he  got  aboard  of  a 
French  vessel,  and  so  reached  the  continent.  That  he 
was  utterly  unworthy  of  the  great  service  rendered  him, 
is  clearly  shown  by  the  fact,  that  though  he  lived  for  more 
than  forty-two  years  after  he  parted  with  her  on  the  beach 
of  Portree,  he  never  acknowledged,  by  letter  or  other- 
wise, the  dangers  to  which  she  exposed  herself  in  order  to 
save  his  life.  At  his  death  his  body  was  appropriately  laid 
in  St.  Peter's  Cathedral  at  Rome  with  the  rest  of  his 
Romish  kindred. 

Flora  Macdonaid  Flora  Macdonald's  part  in  the  escape  of  the 
as  Prisoner.  young  Pretender  could  not  long  be  con- 
cealed. As  soon  as  it  became  known  she  was  arrested, 
and  taken  on  board  one  of  the  King's  vessels,  and  by 
General  Campbell  sent  to  Dunstaffnage  Castle,  on  Loch 
Etive,  his  note  to  the  governor  of  the  castle  referring  to 
her  as  "a  very  pretty  young  rebel."  After  ten  days  of 
imprisonment  there,  she  was  taken  to  Leith,  the  port  of 
Edinburgh,  and  placed  on  board  the  Bridge-water,  where 


INVERNESS  AND  FLORA  MACDONALD.     129 

she  was  detained  for  nearly  three  months,  being  lionized 
the  while  by  the  aristocracy  and  professional  men  of  the 
Scottish  metropolis  in  a  way  that  would  have  turned  a 
weaker  head.  An  Episcopal  clergyman  of  the  place  wrote 
of  her  as  follows : 

"Although  she  was  easy  and  cheerful,  yet  she  had  a 
certain  mixture  of  gravity  in  all  her  behavior,  which 
became  her  situation  exceedingly  well,  and  set  her  off  to 
great  advantage.  She  is  of  a  low  stature,  of  a  fair  com- 
plexion, and  well  enough  shaped.  One  would  not  discern 
by  her  conversation  that  she  had  spent  all  her  former  days 
in  the  Highlands,  for  she  talks  English  easily,  and  not  at 
all  through  the  Erse  tone.  She  has  a  sweet  voice,  and 
sings  well ;  and  no  lady,  Edinburgh-bred,  can  acquit  her- 
self better  at  the  tea-table,  than  what  she  did  when  in 
Leith  Roads.  Her  wise  conduct,  in  one  of  the  most  per- 
plexing scenes  that  can  happen  in  life  —  her  fortitude  and 
good  sense  —  are  memorable  instances  of  the  strength  of 
a  female  mind,  even  in  those  years  that  are  tender  and 
inexperienced." 

In  November,  1746,  the  Bridgewater  sailed,  with  our 
heroine  and  others,  to  London,  where  they  were  to  stand 
trial  on  charges  of  treason.  Her  popularity,  however,  was 
so  great,  and  public  sentiment  so  strongly  opposed  to  the 
infliction  of  any  stern  penalty  upon  a  young  and  attractive 
woman  for  the  performance  of  a  self-sacrificing  act  of 
humanity,  that,  after  a  short  confinement  in  the  gloomy 
Tower  of  London,  whose  walls  have  enclosed  so  many 
heavy  hearts  in  the  course  of  the  centuries,  she  was  turned 
over  to  friends,  who  became  responsible  to  the  govern- 
ment for  her  appearance  when  demanded,  and,  after  re- 
maining a  state  prisoner  in  this  mitigated  manner  for  some 
twelve  months,  she  was  set  at  liberty,  under  the  Act  of 
Indemnity  of  1747.  The  first  use  she  made  of  her  freedom 


130  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

was  to  solicit  as  a  special  favor  that  her  fellow-prisoners 
from  the  Isles  should  be  given  the  same  liberty  as  herself, 
and  the  request  was  granted,  one  of  those  thus  released 
being  her  future  father-in-law,  Macdonald  of  Kingsburgh. 
Some  three  years  after  her  return  to  her 

Her  Marriage.  .   ,         ,          ,  .     ,     . 

native  islands,  she  was  married,  in  1750,  to 
Allan  Macdonald.  Boswell,  in  his  Journal  of  a  Tour  to 
the  Hebrides,  thus  describes  the  man  to  whom  our  heroine 
yielded  her  heart  and  hand : 

"He  was  completely  the  figure  of  a  gallant  Highlander, 
exhibiting  the  graceful  mien  and  manly  looks  which  our 
popular  Scotch  song  has  justly  attributed  to  that  charac- 
ter. He  had  his  tartan  plaid  thrown  around  him,  a  large 
blue  bonnet  with  a  knot  of  black  ribbon  like  a  cockade,  a 
brown  short  coat,  a  tartan  waistcoat  with  gold  buttons,  a 
bluish  philibeg,  and  tartan  hose.  He  had  jet-black  hair, 
tied  behind,  and  was  a  large,  stately  man,  with  a  steady, 
sensible  countenance." 
t  _  .  It  was  in  177^  that  Boswell  and  Dr.  Samuel 

She  Entertains  /  /  «J 

Dr.  Johnson        Johnson  were  entertained  at  the  hospitable 

and  Boswell.        ,home   Qf   A1jan    Macdonald   and   his    famOUS 

wife.  The  great  lexicographer  and  moralist  was  delighted 
with  his  hostess  and  describes  her  as  "a  woman  of  middle 
stature,  soft  features,  gentle  manners,  and  elegant  pres- 
ence." He  asked  her,  as  a  special  favor,  to  let  him  sleep 
in  the  bed  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  unfortunate 
Prince,  a  request  which  she  readily  granted,  adding,  to 
his  immense  gratification,  that  she  would  also  furnish  him 
with  the  identical  sheets  on  which  the  Prince  had  lain, 
and  which,  by  the  way,  she  kept  till  the  end  of  her  days, 
taking  them  with  her  to  North  Carolina  and  back,  and  in 
which,  at  her  own  request,  her  body  was  wrapped  after 
her  death.  Before  leaving  the  house  next  morning,  Dr. 
Johnson  laid  on  his  toilet  table  a  slip  of  paper  containing 


INVERNESS  AND  FLORA  MACDONALD.     131 

the  pencilled  words,  Quantum  cedat  virtutibus  auruni, 
which  Boswell  renders,  "With  virtue  weighed,  what 
worthless  trash  is  gold." 

she  Moves  Through  no  mismanagement  or  extrava- 

to  North  gance  of  his  own,  but  in  consequence  of 

losses  incurred  by  his  father,  by  the  part  he 
had  taken  in  the  Pretender's  cause,  Allan  Macdonald  had 
become  seriously  embarrassed,  and  so,  in  the  hope  of 
mending  his  fortune,  he  determined  to  emigrate  to  North 
Carolina,  where  many  other  families  from  Skye  had 
already  settled.  Accordingly,  in  1774,  with  his  wife  and 
their  nine  children,  he  sailed  for  Wilmington,  and,  after 
receiving  various  attentions  there,  whither  the  fame  of 
his  wife  had  preceded  them,  they  went  up  the  Cape  Fear 
River  to  Cross  Creek,  now  called  Fayetteville,  and  after 
some  months  in  Cumberland  county,  where  they  were 
regular  worshippers  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  pur- 
chased a  place  on  the  borders  of  Richmond  and  Mont- 
gomery counties,  which  they  named  Killiegray. 
...  t  t  Their  life  in  America  was  a  sad  one.  Two 

Misfortunes 

in  the  New  of  their  children  died,  a  bereavement  made 
the  more  trying  to  the  mother  because  of 
the  absence  of  her  husband,  whose  duties  as  a  military 
officer  required  his  presence  elsewhere.  The  Revolution- 
ary War  was  on  the  point  of  breaking  out,  and  Governor 
Martin,  seeing  the  honor  paid  to  Allan  Macdonald  by  the 
Highlanders,  made  him  brigadier-general  of  a  command 
of  his  countrymen,  which  became  a  part  of  the  ill-fated 
army  that  was  defeated  by  the  American  patriots  at  the 
battle  of  Moore's  Creek.  He  was  captured  and  com- 
mitted to  Halifax  jail,  Virginia,  as  a  prisoner  of  war. 
With  misfortunes  thickening  around  her,  her  husband  in 
prison,  her  five  sons  away  from  home  in  the  service  of  the 
King,  her  youngest  daughter  enfeebled  by  a  dangerous 


132  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

attack  of  typhus  fever,  and  her  adopted  country  in  the 
throes  of  war,  Flora  Macdonald  resolved,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  her  imprisoned  husband,  to  return  to  Scot- 
land, and,  having  obtained  a  passport  through  the  kind 
offices  of  Captain  Ingram,  of  the  American  army,  she 
went  to  Wilmington,  and  later  to  Charleston,  whence  she 
sailed  in  1779. 

During  this  voyage  she  had  the  last  of  her 

to  Scotland        notable  adventures,  in  a  sharp  action  be- 

and  her  tween  the  vessel  on  which  she  sailed  and  a 

French    privateer.     She    characteristically 

refused  to  take  shelter  below  during  the  engagement,  but 

appeared  on  deck,  and  encouraged  the  sailors,  assuring 

them  of  success.     She  had  an  arm  broken  in  this  battle, 

and  was  accustomed  to  say  afterwards  that  she  had  fought 

both  for  the  house  of  Stuart  and  the  house  of  Hanover, 

but  had  been  worsted  in  the  service  of  both. 

When  peace  was  restored  between  Britain  and  Amer- 
ica, her  husband  was  released  from  his  long  imprisonment, 
and  returned  as  speedily  as  possible  to  Skye,  where  they 
continued  to  live  comfortably  and  happily  for  eight  or 
nine  years.  She  died  on  the  5th  of  March,  1790,  and  was 
buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Kilmuir,  in  the  north  end  of 
Skye,  her  funeral  being  more  numerously  attended  than 
any  other  that  has  ever  taken  place  in  the  Western  Isles. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
FROM  SCOTLAND  TO  ENGLAND  —  WESTERN  ROUTE. 

STRATFORD-ON-AVON,  September  13,  1902. 

THE  finest  expanses  of  heather  that  we  saw  in  Scot- 
land were  on  the  great  moors  through  which  our 
train  ran  southwards  from  Inverness,  a  rolling  sea  of 
pinkish  purple  bloom,  stretching  for  miles  and  miles  on 
every  hand.  Farther  down  we  enjoyed  the  picturesque- 
ness  of  the  Pass  of  Killiecrankie,  but  it  was  the  history 
here  rather  than  the  scenery  which  interested  us,  for  it 
was  here  that  Claverhouse,  the  stony-hearted  persecutor 
of  the  Covenanters,  fought  and  won  his  last  battle,  but  lost 
his  own  life.  Still  farther  south,  at  Dunkeld,  we  were 
reminded  of  the  heroic  and  successful  resistance  made  by 
the  staunch  men  of  Galloway  to  the  hitherto  victorious 
Highlanders,  well  described  in  Mr.  Crockett's  Lochinvar, 
which,  as  many  of  my  young  readers  know,  is  a  sort  of 
sequel  to  The  Men  of  the  Moss  Hags. 
in  and  around  The  Tay  at  Perth  is  a  noble  stream.  It  is 
Perth.  said  that  when  the  Romans  came  in  sight 

of  it,  they  exclaimed,  "Ecce  Tiber!  Ecce  campus  Mar- 
tins !"  The  scornful  resentment  which  Scotchmen  feel  at 
this  comparison  of  their  beautiful  river  to  the  more  fa- 
mous Italian  stream,  which  Hawthorne  somewhere  de- 
scribes as  "a  mud  puddle  in  strenuous  motion,"  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  lines  which  Sir  Walter  Scott  has  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  first  chapter  of  his  Fair  Maid  of  Perth: 

"  'Behold  the  Tiber !'   the  vain  Roman  cried, 
Viewing  the  ample  Tay  from  Baiglie's  side; 
But  where's  the  Scot  that  would  the  vaunt  repay, 
And  hail  the  puny  Tiber  for  the  Tay?" 


134  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

It  has  been  whimsically  said  that  Perth  is  the  smallest 
city  in  the  world,  because  it  is  situated  between  two 
inches.  Inch  was  the  old  Scottish  word  denoting  an 
island  or  meadow.  We  were  most  interested,  of  course, 
in  the  North  Inch,  where  the  judicial  cotnbat  took  place 
between  the  two  clans,  and  in  which  Henry  Wynd  and 
Conachar  were  engaged.  The  name  of  one  of  these  clans, 
the  Clan  Quhele,  reminded  me  of  the  thrifty  little  town 
built  up  by  the  Highland  Scotch  element  in  eastern  North 
Carolina.  They  called  the  town  "Quhele."  But  the  other 
native  elements  of  the  population,  not  appreciating  Scotch 
tradition  and  what  seemed  to  them  an  outlandish  name, 
changed  it  in  common  use  to  "Shoe  Heel,"  and  this  un- 
dignified designation  of  their  town  so  completely  ousted 
the  other  that  the  people  by  act  of  legislature  had  the 
name  changed  to  "Maxton,"  that  is,  Mac's  Town,  for 
nine-tenths  of  the  people  in  that  region  are  Macs,  and 
mighty  good  people  they  are,  too.  We  visited  the  Fair 
Maid's  House,  and  in  the  evening  read  the  Magician's 
romance  about  her.  Through  the  great  kindness  of  rela- 
tives and  boyhood  companions  of  friends  of  ours  in  Rich- 
mond, who  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  born  and  brought 
up  in  Perth,  we  were  given  every  opportunity  to  see  the 
interesting  old  city  from  every  point  of  view,  and  both 
those  of  us  who  climbed  to  the  top  of  Kinnoul  Hill,  which 
an  old  traveller  once  called  "the  glory  of  Scotland,"  and 
those  of  us  who  drove  with  the  kind  friends  above  men- 
tioned to  Scone  Palace,  whence  the  ancient  crowning  stone 
now  in  Westminster  Abbey  was  taken,  were  fully  agreed 
that  the  place  richly  deserved  its  affectionate  name  of 
"The  Fair  City."  One  member  of  our  party  made  an 
excursion  one  day  from  Perth  to  Kirriemuir,  the 
"Thrums"  of  Mr.  Barrie's  stories,  while  two  others  de- 
voted the  day  to  an  excursion  in  the  other  direction  to  the 


FROM  SCOTLAND  TO  ENGLAND.        135 

beautifully  situated  town  of  Crieff,  world  renowned  as  a 
health  resort.  Here  we  were  most  pleasantly  entertained 
by  the  kind  friends  in  whose  delightful  home  I  was  a 
guest  at  Glasgow  in  1896.  Any  one  of  the  drives  about 
Crieff  on  a  perfect  day,  such  as  we  had,  will  give  one  a 
new  impression  of  the  loveliness  of  Perthshire,  the  district 
of  Scotland  to  which  Sir  Walter  awards  the  palm  for 
beauty. 

On  my  former  visit,  I  had  made  a  detour  from  Perth, 
in  this  same  direction,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  Logieal- 
mond,  the  "Drumtochty"  of  Ian  Maclaren,  which  is  only 
a  few  miles  from  Crieff,  and  had  visited  the  Free  Church, 
in  which  the  young  pastor  of  the  Bonnie  Brier  Bush 
stories  preached  "his  mother's  sermon,"  and  "spoke  a 
gude  word  for  Jesus  Christ" ;  and  the  Established  Church, 
where,  under  a  big  elm,  the  nippy  tongue  of  Jamie  Soutar 
was  wont  to  wag  on  Sunday  mornings ;  and  the  farm  of 
Burnbrae,  and  other  places  in  the  glen  which  has  now  be- 
come so  famous.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  Dr.  John  Wat- 
son's later  development,  both  theological  and  literary,  has 
not  been  so  satisfactory  as  was  once  expected. 

On  our  way  down  to  Edinburgh  we  had  a 

Scotland  and      glimpse   from   the  car   windows   of  Loch 

the  English       Leven,  and  the  island  castle  in  which  Mary 

Queen  of  Scots  was  confined  to  keep  her 

out  of  mischief,  and  in  connection  therewith  recalled  what 

we  could  of  The  Monastery  and  The  Abbot,  the  former 

one  of  the  least  successful,  and  the  latter  one  of  the  most 

successful  of  Scott's  romances.    We  had  a  glimpse  also  of 

Dunfermline,  the  birthplace  of  Andrew  Carnegie,  to  say 

nothing  of  its  ancient  renown,  crossed  the  Forth  Bridge 

once  more,  made  a  brief  stay  in  Edinburgh,  and  pushed 

on  to  Ayr,  passing  the  battlefield  of  Ayrsmoss  and  other 

points  of  interest  in  connection  with  the  Covenanters. 


136  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

We  could  give  only  two  days  to  Ayr,  but  saw  the  birth- 
place of  Burns,  Auld  Alloway  Kirk,  Bonnie  Doon,  and 
the  various  memorials  of  the  poet ;  then  went  to  Dumfries 
principally  to  see  the  Burns  monuments  there,  passing 
reluctantly  through  the  Covenanter  country  without  stop- 
ping. From  Dumfries  we  crossed  the  border,  passing  the 
original  Gretna  Green,  where  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years  the  runaway  couples  from  England  were  married, 
and  went  direct  to  Keswick,  at  the  head  of  Derwentvvater, 
for  the  purpose  of  seeing  something  of  the  English  Lake 
District.  Skiddaw  is  a  noble  and  satisfying  mountain. 
We  were  interested  also  in  the  memorials  of  Southey  at 
Crossthwaite  Church.  But  Southey  is  responsible  for  the 
severest  disappointment  that  comes  to  travellers  in  the 
Lake  District.  By  his  artificial  and  jingling  lines  on 
"How  the  water  comes  down  at  Lodore,"  he  has  raised 
expectations  which  the  poor  little  falls  at  the  foot  of 
Derwentwater  cannot  realize.  The  American  who  came 
there  and  sat  down  on  a  rock  and  watched  the  falls  for 
a  while,  and  then  declared  that  there  was  at  least  a  gill 
of  water  coming  down,  was  hardly  guilty  of  a  greater 
exaggeration  in  one  direction  than  Southey  in  the  other. 
But  there  is  no  other  disappointment  about  the  scenery 
of  the  English  Lakes.  It  is  lovely.  It  is  said  that  a 
famous  classical  scholar,  preaching  to  a  small  congrega- 
tion of  rustics  in  the  Lake  District,  said  to  them,  "In  this 
beautiful  country,  my  brethren,  you  have  an  apotheosis  of 
nature  and  an  apodeikneusis  of  theocratic  omnipotence !" 
We  trust  that  the  sentiment  which  he  tried  to  express  was 
all  right,  notwithstanding  the  insufferably  pedantic  form 
of  it.  Of  course  we  took  the  coach  from  Keswick  to 
Windermere,  stopping  for  the  night  at  Ambleside,  and 
visiting  the  grave  of  Wordsworth  hard  by  the  clear  and 
placid  stream,  an  ideal  resting-place  for  the  poet  of  nature, 


FROM  SCOTLAND  TO  ENGLAND.        137 

Chester  and  Chester,  with  its  quaint  Rows,  and  red  sand- 
Lichfieid.  stone  cathedral,  and  its  high  promenade  on 
top  of  the  walls  encircling  the  old  part  of  the  town,  and 
especially  its  Roman  remains  —  for  Chester  is  funda- 
mentally a  Roman  town,  as  its  name  indicates  (it  was  the 
Castra  of  the  Twentieth  Legion) — interested  us,  as  did 
also  Eaton  Hall,  the  magnificent  seat  of  the  Duke  of 
Westminster,  three  miles  distant;  but  we  had  rain,  rain, 
rain,  and  besides,  we  had  lingered  so  long  in  the  fasci- 
nating "land  of  the  mountain  and  the  flood"  that  we  were 
anxious  to  push  on  to  places  of  still  more  interest  to  us. 
So  we  did  not  tarry  there  long.  We  treated  Coventry, 
Kenilworth,  Leamington,  and  even  Lichfield,  in  the  same 
touch-and-go  fashion.  We  could  not  bring  ourselves  to 
omit  Lichfield  altogether,  partly  because  of  its  lovely 
cathedral,  but  chiefly  because  it  was  the  town  of  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson,  the  greatest  man  of  books  that  ever 
lived.  Therefore,  we  stopped  there  long  enough  to  go 
through  the  rich  collection  of  Johnson  relics  in  the  house 
where  he  was  brought  up,  to  study  the  monument  to  him 
in  the  market-place  in  front,  and  to  inspect  the  cathedral. 
Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson  is  the  best  biography  in  the 
English  language.  The  careful  reading  of  it  is  a  pretty 
thorough  education  in  literature.  I  fear  it  is  not  read  as 
much  as  it  used  to  be.  People  are  too  much  occupied  with 
the  ephemeral  effusions  of  contemporary  mediocrities  to 
read  the  great  books. 

Our  visit  to  this  town  reminded  me  of  a  story  that  I 
had  read  years  ago  of  a  certain  bishop  of  Lichfield  who 
had  a  reputation  for  repartee  and  ready  replies  to  difficult 
questions.  In  a  crowded  room  one  evening,  when  it  was 
not  known  that  the  bishop  was  present,  the  conversation 
turned  to  this  aptness  of  his,  and  a  man  said,  "I  should 


10 


138  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

like  to  meet  that  bishop  of  Lichfield ;   I'd  put  a  question 
to  him  that  would  puzzle  him." 

"Very  well,"  said  a  voice  from  another  corner,  "now 
is  your  time,  for  I  am  the  bishop." 

The  first  speaker  was  somewhat  taken  aback,  but  re- 
covered himself  sufficiently  to  say,  "Well,  my  lord,  can 
you  tell  me  the  way  to  heaven?" 

"Nothing  easier,"  answered  the  bishop,  "you  have  only 
to  turn  to  the  right  and  go  straight  ahead." 
The  Shakespeare  And  now  we  are  off  for  the  Shakespeare 
country.  country,  not  far  away.  Very  different  from 
the  bold  scenery  of  Scotland  is  that  of  this  part  of  Eng- 
land. Here  one  sees  — 

"The  ground's  most  gentle  dimplement 
(As  if  God's  finger  touched,  but  did  not  press, 
In  making  England) — such  an  up  and  down 
Of  verdure ;   nothing  too  much  up  and  down, 
A  ripple  of  land,  such  little  hills  the  sky 
Can  stoop  to  tenderly  and  the  wheat  fields  climb." 

The  most  striking  feature  of  an  English  landscape  to 
an  American  eye  is  the  extraordinary  finish  —  lawns, 
fields,  fences,  houses,  roads,  are  all  such  as  can  belong 
only  to  an  old  and  prosperous  country.  An  Oxford  man, 
when  asked  how  they  managed  to  get  such  perfect  sward 
in  the  college  lawns,  replied:  "It  is  the  simplest  thing 
in  the  world;  you  have  only  to  mow  and  roll  regularly 
for  about  four  hundred  years." 

At  Stratford-on-Avon  we  stayed  at  the  Red  Horse 
Inn,  Washington  Irving's  hotel  when  here.  We  visited 
Anne  Hathaway's  cottage,  the  school  of  the  poet's  boy- 
hood, the  ugly  and  staring  Shakespeare  memorial,  and 
the  other  points  of  interest.  It  is  familiar  ground  to  most 
readers,  and  I  shall  refer  to  only  two  things. 


FROM  SCOTLAND  TO  ENGLAND.        139 

The  American  In  the  cnurch  where  Shakespeare  is  buried 
window  at  there  is  an  American  window,  not  yet  fin- 
ished when  I  first  saw  it,  and  there  was  a 
box  hard  by  to  receive  the  donations  of  American  visitors. 
The  rich  stained  glass  represents  the  infant  Christ  in  his 
mother's  arms,  and  on  either  side  English  and  American 
worthies  in  attitudes  of  adoration.  On  one  side'  are 
Amerigo  Vespucci,  Christopher  Columbus  and  William 
Penn,  representative  pious  Americans,  and  on  the  other 
Bishop  Egwin  of  Worcester,  "King  Charles  the  Martyr 
and  Archbishop  Laud !"  The  fact  that  more  than  two 
thousand  dollars  have  been  contributed  for  this  window 
is  conclusive  proof  of  the  humiliating  fact  that  a  large 
number  of  the  Americans  who  visit  Stratford  are  ninnies. 
I  venture  the  assertion  that  their  admiration  for  Shakes- 
peare is  humbug,  that  they  have  not  sufficient  intelligence 
to  appreciate  his  real  worth,  and  that  they  could  stand 
about  as  good  an  examination  on  the  immortal  plays  as 
that  King  George  who,  after  vain  attempts  to  read  Shakes- 
peare, gave  it  up  with  the  remark  that  it  was  very  dull 
stuff.  He  was  "clever  just  like  a  donkey,"  as  one  of  our 
European  guides  said  when  we  asked  him  about  the  intel- 
lectual grade  of  certain  monks,  and  these  citizens  of  a 
free  country  who  give  money  for  a  monument  to  Charles  I. 
and  Archbishop  Laud  are  equally  clever.  I  was  speaking 
of  this  window  to  one  of  the  most  interesting  men  I  met 
in  Scotland,  my  host,  the  learned  and  distinguished  Dr. 
W.  G.  Blackie,  and  he  put  the  whole  thing  into  "the  husk 
o'  a  hazel"  with  the  remark  that  "Charles  the  First  was 
one  of  the  most  incorrigible  liars  that  ever  lived."  He 
was,  and  he  was  moreover  the  inveterate  foe  of  every 
princple  represented  by  the  American  Government.  And 
yet  Americans  are  contributing  to  a  memorial  window  of 
him  and  Laud! 


140  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

English  in  As  one  wanders  about  the  streets  of  the 

England.  quaint  English  town  he  is  beset  from  time 
to  time  by  groups  of  children,  who  in  a  kind  of  humming 
or  chanting  chorus  recite  the  leading  facts  in  the  life  of 
Shakespeare,  for  which  they  expect,  of  course,  to  receive 
a  small  fee.  The  substance  and  sound  of  this  curious 
monotone  have  been  represented  approximately  as  fol- 
lows :  "William  Shykespeare,  the  gryte  poet,  was  born  in 
Stratford-on-Avon  in  1564  —  the  'ouse  in  which  he  dwelt 
may  still  be  seen  —  'is  father  in  the  gryte  poet's  boyhood 
was  'igh  bailiff  of  the  plyce  —  one  who  shykes  a  spear 
is  the  meaning  of  'is  nyme,"  and  so  on.  In  like  manner 
the  London  newsboys  say,  "Pipers,  sir  ?"  As  a  friend  of 
mine  puts  it,  they  do  not  "label  your  trunks"  here,  but 
"libel  your  boxes,"  and  they  call  the  Tate  Gallery  "Tight." 
That  reminds  me  of  the  queer  pronunciation  of  many 
proper  names  in  Great  Britain.  Of  course  you  know  that 
Thames  is  pronounced  Temz,  and  Greenwich  Grinij,  and 
Beauchamp  Beecham,  and  Gloucester  Gloster,  and 
Brougham  Broom.  But  did  you  know  that  Kirkcud- 
bright was  pronounced  Kirk-coo-bree,  that  at  Cambridge 
they  call  Caius  College  Keys  College,  and  that  at  Oxford 
they  call  Magdalen  College  Maudlen  College  ?  The  Cock- 
burn  Hotel  at  which  we  stopped  in  Edinburgh  is  called 
Coburn.  So  Colquhoun  is  Cohoon,  Wemyss  is  Weems, 
Glamis  is  Glams,  Charteris  is  Charters,  Methuen  is 
Methven,  Cholmondeley  is  Chumley,  Marjoribanks  is 
Marchbanks,  Ruthven  is  Riven,  DeBelvoir  is  De  Beever 
and  Menzies  is  Mingis.  Worse  yet,  Bethune  is  Beeten, 
Levison-Gower  is  Luson-Gore,  Colclough  is  Coatley,  St. 
John  is  Sinjun,  St.  Leger  is  Silleger,  and  Uttoxeter  is 
Uxeter.  But,  then,  we  have  in  Virginia  the  name  En- 
roughty  pronounced  Darby.  High  Holborn  in  London  is 
'I  'Obun.  Some  of  their  contractions  are  remarkable. 


FROM  SCOTLAND  TO  ENGLAND.        141 

The  name  of  Bunhill  Fields,  the  great  Nonconformist 
burying-ground,  is  short  for  Bone  Hill.  The  famous 
charity  school,  where  the  boys  wear  blue  coats,  is  called 
"The  Blukkit  School,"  instead  of  the  Blue  Coat  School. 
Rotten  Row,  the  fashionable  track  for  horseback  riders 
in  Hyde  Park,  is  an  ugly  contraction  of  the  French  words 
route  de  roi,  the  king's  road,  because  there  was  a  time 
when  only  the  king  was  allowed  to  use  it.  I  cannot  leave 
this  subject  without  telling  you  that  the  name  of  Dugald 
Dalgetty  of  Drumthwacket,  who  afforded  you  so  much 
amusement  when  you  were  reading  The  Legend  of 
Montrose,  is  called  in  Scotland  Diggety  instead  of  Dal- 
getty. 

Other  things  of  interest  in  this  connection  are  that 
shoes  are  not  shoes  in  England,  they  are  boots.  If  you 
ask  for  shoes  they  will  give  you  slippers.  There  are  no 
overshoes,  only  galoches.  No  shirtwaists,  nothing  but 
blouses.  You  can't  get  a  spool  of  thread,  but  a  reel  of 
cotton.  Locomotive  engineers  are  called  "drivers,"  and 
conductors  are  called  "guards."  In  Scotland  all  the 
church  notices  are  "intimations." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

A  VISIT  TO  RUGBY  AND  A  TRAMP  TO  THE  WHITE  HORSE 

HILL. 

LONDON,  September  20,  1902. 

ONE  would  think  at  first  view  that  it  would  be  as  easy 
to  write  a  good  book  for  boys  about  school  life  as 
to  write  a  good  story  about  any  other  subject.     But  it 
does  not  seem  to  be  so.    At  any  rate,  many  gifted  and 
practised  authors  have  attempted  it,  with 

Tom  Brown  s  f 

School-days  only  moderate  success.  Archdeacon  Farrar, 
one  of  the  most  versatile  writers  of  our 
time,  has  given  us  a  pretty  good  story  of  school  life  in 
his  St.  Winifred's,  but  the  work  is  marred  by  its  too 
constant  appeal  to  morbid  emotion.  Mr.  Rudyard  Kip- 
ling, too,  has  tried  his  hand  on  a  book  for  boys,  and  has 
only  given  us  what  Dr.  Robertson  Nicoll  justly  calls  "that 
detestable  thing,"  Stalky  &  Co.  The  less  boys  have  to  do 
with  that  kind  of  books  the  better.  High  hopes  were 
raised  by  the  announcement  that  the  Rev.  John  Watson, 
D.  D.,  of  Liverpool,  better  known  as  "Ian  Maclaren," 
author  of  Beside  the  Bonny  Brier  Bush,  and  many  other 
exceedingly  popular  volumes,  was  to  publish  a  book  on 
school-boy  life.  It  was  known  that  he  had  the  requisite 
talent,  sympathy  and  humor,  that  he  was  a  scholarly  and 
high-minded  man,  and  that  he  had  sons  of  his  own. 
Surely  these  are  just  the  qualifications  that  a  man  ought 
to  have  in  order  to  write  an  ideal  book  for  boys.  But 
Dr.  Watson's  book,  Young  Barbarians,  was  a  disappoint- 
ment. It  has  many  true  and  bright  and  laughable  things 
in  it,  and  it  glorifies  manliness  and  pluck,  but  it  often  ridi- 


RUGBY  AND  WHITE  HORSE  HILL.       143 

cules  the  good  boys  of  the  school,  the  boys  who  give  the 
teacher  no  trouble  and  perform  their  tasks  faithfully,  and 
it  makes  the  most  mischievous  and  lawless  boy  in  school 
its  hero.  Besides,  it  is  not  one  continuous  story,  but  a 
group  of  sketches. 

In  short,  I  know  only  one  book  of  this  class  having 
the  first  order  of  merit,  and  that  is  Tom  Brown's  School 
Days  at  Rugby.  In  my  judgment,  that  is  the  best  book 
for  boys  that  has  yet  been  written,  the  most  natural,  the 
most  interesting,  the  most  wholesome.  It  has  an  abiding 
charm.  I  read  it  as  a  boy,  and  I  have  read  it  again  and 
again  since  I  was  grown.  It  is  one  of  the  books  whose 
scenes  I  have  always  wished  to  visit.  The  opportunity 
came  a  few  days  ago  while  I  was  travelling  through  Cen- 
tral England  with  several  youngsters,  ranging  from  eleven 
years  to  fifteen,  to  whom  I  had  read  Tom  Brown,  and 
who  wished  to  visit  Rugby. 

The  Rugby  The  place  is  now  an  important  railway 
of  to-day.  junction,  with  a  wilderness  of  tracks,  and 
trains  flying  in  and  out  in  every  direction.  What  a 
change  in  the  mode  of  travel  since  the  days  of  the  Pig 
and  Whistle  which  brought  Tom  down  to  Rugby!  The 
school  itself,  however,  is  much  the  same  —  the  venerable 
buildings  and  quadrangles;  the  doctor's  house,  with  its 
wealth  of  vines;  the  wide  sweep  of  green  playground, 
where  Tom  had  his  memorable  first  experience  at  foot- 
ball, and  "the  island,"  as  the  mound  on  one  side  was 
called.  On  the  bulletin  board  was  an  announcement  about 
"hare  and  hounds,"  so  that  this  splendid  game,  so  finely 
described  in  the  book,  is  evidently  still  a  favorite.  One 
marked  innovation  since  Tom's  time  is  the  introduction 
of  the  military  feature  into  the  school.  The  boys  are 
now  regularly  drilled,  and  in  passing  through  the  build- 
ings one  sees  the  rows  of  rifles  neatly  ranged  along  the 


144  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

walls.    It  is  one  of  many  indications  of  England's  effort 
to  keep  up  a  full  stream  of  recruits  for  her  army. 

In  the  library  we  are  shown  the  long  gilt  hand  from 
the  old  clock  in  the  school  tower,  the  very  hand  on  which 
Tom  and  East  scratched  their  names  as  a  suitable  con- 
clusion to  a  certain  series  of  exploits ;  and,  looking  closely, 
we  see  the  name  "Thomas  Hughes."  He  was  the  original 
of  Tom  Brown,  and  to  him  we  are  indebted  for  this  un- 
rivalled story  of  life  at  school.  Just  in  front  of  the  library 
building  stands  a  singularly  fit  and  vital  bronze  statue  of 
Judge  Hughes,  represented  as  wearing  a  sack  coat,  infor- 
mal, manly,  keenly  intelligent,  kind  and  true  —  the  very 
thing  to  appeal  to  boys. 

I  spoke  above  of  the  generally  unchanged  appearance 
of  the  buildings.  But  the  library  just  mentioned  is  an 
exception,  being  new ;  and  another  exception  is  the  very 
large  and  handsome  new  chapel  of  variegated  brick,  so 
that  we  no  longer  see  it  just  as  it  was  when  Tom,  on 
revisiting  Rugby,  knelt  before  Dr.  Arnold's  tomb,  and 
lifted  a  subdued  and  thankful  heart  to  God.  But  the 
remains  of  the  great  head-master  still  lie  there,  and  on 
one  side  of  the  chapel  is  a  good  recumbent  statue  of 
Arnold,  and  just  below  it  a  similar  one  of  his  favorite 
pupil,  Stanley,  afterwards  the  celebrated  dean  of  West- 
minster. 

We  left  Rugby  regretfully,  but  we  were  not 

Our  Expedition         ,  ,  .  ,        ,  ,         .  , 

to  Tom  through   with    the   scenes    connected   with 

Brown's  Tom  Brown,  by  any  means,  for,  a  few  days 

Birthplace.  ,  ,  .  .  .  _      .       ,      _ 

later,  while  sojourning  at  Oxford,  1  pro- 
posed one  evening  to  our  young  people  that  we  should 
make  an  expedition  to  the  White  Horse  Vale,  where  Tom 
was  born,  and  where,  moreover,  we  could  see  that  most 
ancient,  most  striking,  and  most  durable  of  Saxon  monu- 
ments, the  huge  figure  of  a  galloping  horse,  three  hundred 


RUGBY  AND  WHITE  HORSE  HILL.       145 

and  seventy  feet  long,  cut  in  the  hillside  by  removing  the 
turf  to  the  depth  of  a  foot  or  two  and  exposing  the  white 
chalk  beneath,  made  by  King  Alfred's  soldiers  to  com- 
memorate his  great  victory  over  the  Danes  at  this  place  — 
to  say  nothing  of  a  great  fortified  Roman  camp  on  top 
of  the  same  hill.  The  suggestion  was  agreed  to  with 
alacrity,  and  next  morning,  after  an  early  breakfast,  we 
took  a  train  from  Oxford  down  the  Thames  Valley,  but 
at  Didcot  turned  westward,  and  soon  came  to  Wantage, 
the  birthplace  of  Alfred  the  Great,  of  whom  there  is  a 
statue  in  the  market-place,  the  native  town  also  of  Bishop 
Butler,  the  author  of  the  immortal  Analogy,  and  the  resi- 
dence at  present  of  the  notorious  leader  of  Tammany 
Hall,  New  York,  Richard  Croker,  who  has  his  racing 
stables  here. 

The  country  through  which  we  are  passing  is  as  flat 
as  a  Western  prairie,  but  since  leaving  Didcot  we  have 
come  in  sight  of  a  range  of  chalk  hills  covered  with  the 
greenest  of  grass,  running  parallel  with  the  railway  on 
our  left,  and  distant  some  two  or  three  miles.  The  high- 
est point  in  this  range  is  the  White  Horse  Hill  —  our 
destination. 

At  Uffington  Station  we  leave  the  train  and  begin  our 
tramp,  first  of  two  miles  to  Uffington  village,  where,  as 
we  pass  the  parish  school,  we  have  the  good  fortune  to 
see  the  children  all  out  at  play,  as  in  the  time  when  Harry 
Winburn  taught  Tom  Brown  that  valuable  trick  in  wres- 
tling, and  when  Tom  and  Jacob  Doodlecalf  were  caught 
by  the  wheelwright  while  performing  in  the  porch  in  a 
manner  not  conducive  to  the  gravity  and  order  of  the 
school. 

The  ground  has  been  level  thus  far,  but  for 

The  Highest  . 

Horse  we  ever    the  next  mile  or  so  it  rises  gently,  the  great 
Mounted.           white  figure  on  the  hill  before  us  becoming 


146  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

more  distinct  as  we  come  around  in  front  of  it 
somewhat,  and  then  when  we  come  to  the  foot  of 
the  hill  itself  we  find  a  sharp  climb  before  us,  and  are 
presently  going  almost  straight  up.  Up,  up  we  go.  Let 
us  pause  for  a  rest.  Up  again.  Another  pause.  Now 
look  back.  What  a  lovely  view !  One  more  pull  for  the 
top,  and  here  we  are  at  last,  standing  on  the  broad  tail 
of  the  White  Horse,  mopping  our  brows  with  our  hand- 
kerchiefs, and  panting  with  the  exertion,  while  the  wind 
blows  a  stiff  gale  from  the  west.  But  we  yield  the  floor 
for  a  few  moments  to  the  man  who  first  told  us  about 
this  place : 

What  a  hill  is  the  White  Horse  Hill !    There  it  stands 
right  up  above  all  the  rest,  nine  hundred  feet  above  the 
sea,  the  boldest,  bravest  shape  for  a  chalk  hill  that  you 
ever  saw.    Let  us  go  up  to  the  top  of  him,  and  see  what 
is  to  be  found  there.     Ay,  you  may  well  wonder  and 
think  it  odd  you  never  heard  of  this  before.     .     .     . 
The  Roman       Yes,  it's  a  magnificent  Roman  camp,  and  no 
camp.  mistake,  with  gates  and  ditch  and  mounds, 

all  as  complete  as  it  was  twenty  years  after  the  strong 
old  rogues  had  left  it.  Here,  right  up  on  the  highest  point, 
from  which  they  say  you  can  see  eleven  counties,  they 
trenched  round  all  the  tableland,  some  twelve  or  fourteen 
acres,  as  was  their  custom,  for  they  couldn't  bear  anybody 
to  overlook  them,  and  made  their  eyrie.  The  ground  falls 
away  rapidly  on  all  sides.  Was  there  ever  such  turf  in 
the  whole  world?  You  sink  up  to  your  ankles  at  every 
step,  and  yet  the  spring  of  it  is  delicious.  There  is  always 
a  breeze  in  the  "camp,"  as  it  is  called;  and  here  it  lies, 
just  as  the  Romans  left  it.  ...  It  is  altogether  a  place 
that  you  won't  forget, — a  place  to  open  a  man's  soul  and 
make  him  prophesy,  as  he  looks  down  on  that  great  vale 
spread  out  as  the  garden  of  the  Lord  before  him,  and 


RUGBY  AND  WHITE  HORSE  HILL.       147 

wave  on  wave  of  the  mysterious  downs  behind;  and  to 
the  right  and  left  the  chalk  hills  running  away  into  the 
distance,  along  which  he  can  trace  for  miles  the  old 
Roman  road,  "the  Ridgeway"  ("the  Rudge,"  as  the  coun- 
try folk  call  it),  keeping  straight  along  the  highest  back 
of  the  hills ;  —  such  a  place  as  Balak  brought  Balaam  to 
and  told  him  to  prophesy  against  the  people  in  the  valley 
beneath.  And  he  could  not,  neither  shall  you,  for  they 
are  a  people  of  the  Lord  who  abide  there. 

King  Alfred's  Anci  now  wc  leave  the  camP>  and  descend 
Defeat  of  towards  the  west  and  are  on  the  Ash-down. 
We  are  treading  on  heroes.  For  this  is  the 
actual  place  where  our  Alfred  won  his  great  battle,  the 
battle  of  Ash-down,  which  broke  the  Danish  power,  and 
made  England  a  Christian  land.  The  Danes  held  the 
camp  and  the  slope  where  we  are  standing  —  the  whole 
crown  of  the  hill,  in  fact.  "The  heathen  had  beforehand 
seized  the  higher  ground,"  as  old  Asser  says,  having 
wasted  everything  behind  them  from  London,  and  being 
just  ready  to  burst  down  on  the  fair  Vale,  Alfred's  own 
birthplace  and  heritage.  And  up  the  heights  came  the 
Saxons,  "and  there  the  battle  was  joined  with  a  mighty 
shout,  and  the  pagans  were  defeated  with  great  slaughter." 
After  which  crowning  mercy  the  pious  king,  that  there 
might  never  be  wanting  a  sign  and  a  memorial  to  the 
countryside,  carved  out  on  the  northern  side  of  the  chalk 
hill,  under  the  camp,  where  it  is  almost  precipitous,  the 
great  Saxon  white  horse,  which  he  who  will  may  see  from 
the  railway,  and  which  gives  its  name  to  the  vale,  over 
which  it  has  looked  these  thousand  years  and  more. 
.  __  Right  down  below  the  White  Horse  is  a 

The  Manger 

and  the  curious  deep  and  broad  gully,  called     the 

Dragon's  Hiii.    manger»    [because   it   is   right   under   the 

mouth  of  the  White  Horse],  into  one  side  of  which  the 


148  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

hills  fall  with  a  series  of  the  most  lovely  sweeping  curves, 
known  as  "the  Giant's  Stairs";  they  are  not  a  bit  like 
stairs,  but  I  never  saw  anything  like  them  anywhere  else, 
with  their  short,  green  turf,  and  tender  bluebells,  and 
gossamer  and  thistle-down  gleaming  in  the  sun,  and  the 
sheep  paths  running  along  their  sides  like  ruled  lines. 

The  other  side  of  the  Manger  is  formed  by  the 
Dragon's  Hill,  a  curious  little  round  self-confident  fellow, 
thrown  forward  from  the  range,  utterly  unlike  everything 
round  him.  On  this  hill  some  deliverer  of  mankind  — 
St.  George,  the  country  folk  used  to  tell  me  —  killed  a 
dragon.  Whether  it  were  St.  George  I  cannot  say;  but 
surely  a  dragon  was  killed  there,  for  you  may  see  the 
marks  yet  where  his  blood  ran  down,  and  more  by  token 
the  place  where  it  ran  down  is  the  easiest  way  up  the 
hillside.  So  far  Thomas  Hughes. 

As  a  truthful  chronicler,  I  must  record  that  some  of 
our  party,  tempted  by  the  precipitous  slope  covered  with 
luxuriant  grass,  slid  down  the  hill  from  the  White  Horse 
into  the  Manger,  sitting  down  on  the  turf  and  letting 
themselves  go,  with  the  result  of  wrecking  a  pair  of 
trousers  or  so,  and  carrying  away  some  portion  of  the 
fertile  soil  of  Berks  to  Oxford. 

The  Blowing        Passing  along  the  ridgeway  to  the  west  for 
stone.  about  a  mile,  we  may  come  to  Wayland 

Smith's  forge,  a  cave  familiar  to  readers  of  Kenilworth, 
but  we  content  ourselves  with  a  distant  view,  and,  de- 
scending the  hill,  turn  to  the  east,  and,  after  a  brisk  walk 
of  three  or  four  miles,  we  halt  under  a  fine  old  tree  in 
front  of  a  cottage  door,  to  see  another  object  described 
in  Tom  Brown's  School  Days  at  Rugby,  the  celebrated 
Blowing  Stone,  "a  square  lump  of  stone,  some  three  feet 
and  a  half  high,  perforated  with  two  or  three  queer  holes, 
like  petrified  antediluvian  rat  holes."  It  is  chained  to  the 


RUGBY  AND  WHITE  HORSE  HILL.       149 

tree  and  secured  with  a  padlock.  Instead  of  the  innkeeper, 
for  whom  Mr.  Hughes  was  so  fearful  lest  he  should  burst 
or  have  apoplexy  when  he  blew  the  stone,  a  very  comely 
matron  came  out  of  the  cottage  and  blew  it  for  us  —  then 
we  all  blew  it  in  turn.  The  sound  is  described  exactly 
in  the  book:  "a  grewsome  sound,  between  a  moan  and 
a  roar,  spreads  itself  away  over  the  valley,  and  up  the 
hillside,  and  into  the  woods  at  the  back  of  the  house,  a 
ghost-like,  awful  voice."  This  stone  is  said  to  have  been 
used  in  old  times  to  give  warning  and  summons  in  time 
of  war. 

In  his  other  book,  on  The  Scouring  of  the  White  Horse, 
that  is,  the  scraping  away  of  the  accumulated  sand  and 
grass,  which  is  the  occasion  every  year  for  the  gathering 
of  the  whole  country-side  for  games  and  festivities,  Judge 
Hughes  gives  the  following  ballad  in  the  country  dialect, 
which  contains  a  reference  to  this  use  of  the  stone: 

"The  owed  White  Horse  wants  zettin  to  rights, 

And  the  'Squire  hev  promised  good  cheer, 
Zo  we'll  gee  un  a  scrape  to  kip  un  in  zhape, 
An  a'll  last  for  many  a  year. 

"A  was  made  a  lang,  lang  time  ago, 

Wi  a  good  dale  o'  labor  and  pains, 

By  King  Alfred  the  Great  when  he  spwiled  their  consate 
And  caddled  *  they  wosbirds,1  the  Danes. 

"The  Bleawin'  Stwun  in  days  gone  by 

Wur  King  Alfred's  bugle  harn, 
And  the  tharnin'  tree  you  med  plainly  zee 
As  is  called  King  Alfred's  tharn." 

,    __  But  the  sun  is  now  sinking  westward,  and 

1  ne  r/nect 

upon  our          we  have  still  a  long  walk  before  us  to  the 
Appetite.          railroad,  and  in  order  to  catch  our  train  it 

1  Caddled,  worried.  *  Wosbird,  bird  of  woe,  of  evil  omen. 


150  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

must  be  a  rapid  walk  as  well.  We  have  been  so  much 
interested  that  we  did  not  think  of  anything  to  eat  until 
now,  but  the  vigorous  exercise  has  given  us  keen  appetites, 
and  we  begin  to  inquire  for  food.  None  to  be  had.  So 
we  set  out  hungry  on  our  forced  march  to  the  station, 
and  by  steady  toil  reach  it  a  few  minutes  before  the  arrival 
of  our  train,  having  tramped  thirteen  long  miles  up  hill 
and  down  dale  since  leaving  the  train  there  that  morning. 
In  the  compartment  which  we  entered  were  a  couple  of 
English  ladies,  who  presently  opened  a  small  case  of  tea 
things,  lighted  a  spirit  lamp,  and  brewed  their  tea.  Then 
they  drank  it.  That  was  the  best  tea  I  ever  —  smelled. 
The  delicious  aroma  of  it  tantalized  and  tormented  our 
weary  and  hungry  pedestrians  for  miles,  and  put  an  edge 
on  our  appetites  that  made  obedience  to  the  tenth  com- 
mandment an  utter  impossibility. 

It  may  seem  incredible,  but  it  is  a  fact  that  our  friend, 
Mr.  Bird,  and  two  of  the  youngsters  in  the  party,  did 
four  miles  more  on  foot  at  Wantage  later  on  in  the  same 
day.  You  may  be  sure  there  was  hearty  eating  and  sound 
sleeping  when  we  all  got  back  to  our  quarters  at  Oxford 
that  night,  well  satisfied  with  our  memorable  visit  to  the 
White  Horse  and  the  Blowing  Stone. 

Our  sojourn  at  Oxford,  with  her  wealth  of  mellow 
architecture  and  her  inspiring  historical  and  literary  asso- 
ciations,— our  visits  to  Windsor  Castle,  Eton  College,  and 
Stoke  Pogis,  where  Gray  wrote  his  immortal  "Elegy," — 
and  our  excursions  to  Hampton  Court,  with  its  wonderful 
grape  vine  and  its  crowding  memories  of  Wolsey,  Crom- 
well, and  William  III.,  and  to  Kingston,  Richmond  Hill, 
Kew  Gardens,  Kensington  and  the  Crystal  Palace, — were 
all  full  of  interest,  but  must  be  passed  over  here,  as  there 
are  subjects  of  greater  importance  connected  with  London 
which  will  occupy  all  the  remaining  space  that  we  can 
give  to  England. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  MOST  INTERESTING  BUILDING  IN  THE  WORLD. 

LONDON,  October  2,  1902. 

SOME  months   ago,   when  the  kind  urgency  of  my 
friends  made  it  plain  to  me  that  I  should  go  abroad 
for  a  while,  and  when  it  was  decided  that  certain  young 
students  of  the  Shorter  Catechism  in  my  family  should 
w  r,-  ,_  ,          go  with  me,  I  promised  them  a  visit  to  the 

The  Birthplace 

of  the  shorter  birthplace  of  that  marvellous  compendium 
of  biblical  doctrine,  which  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  has  been  such  a  weariness  to  the  flesh  of 
Presbyterian  children  throughout  the  English-speaking 
world,  especially  on  Sunday  afternoons,  and  which  is  such 
a  priceless  possession  of  their  adult  years  when  once 
thoroughly  acquired  in  youth;  but  I  told  them  that  the 
condition  on  which  alone  I  could  take  them  with  a  clear 
conscience  to  the  spot  where  that  matchless  little  book 
was  written,  was  that  they  should  memorize  it  perfectly 
beforehand,  and  I  had  the  satisfaction  before  leaving  home 
of  hearing  them  all  recite  it  without  a  mistake;  and,  in 
order  to  retain  with  ease  what  was  thus  acquired  with  toil, 
they  have  continued  to  recite  it  regularly  from  beginning 
to  end  every  Sunday  afternoon.  This  is,  of  course,  no- 
thing more  than  hundreds  of  other  children  have  done, 
and  I  do  not  mention  it  as  anything  remarkable,  but  only 
as  suggesting  one  reason  for  the  eager  interest  with  which 
we  were  looking  forward  to  our  visit  to  a  certain  part  of 
Westminster  Abbey.  And  so,  on  the  very  first  morning 
after  our  first  arrival  in  London,  as  soon  as  we  had  fin- 


152  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

ished  breakfast,  we  hurried  down  to  the  gray  old  minster, 
where,  in  the  midst  of  the  roaring  city,  so  many  of  the 
restless  makers  of  the  world's  history,  literature  and  art 
are  now  quietly  sleeping;  for  we  intended,  after  seeing 
where  the  Westminster  Assembly  sat,  to  give  a  full  morn- 
ing to  the  other  historical  memorials  of  the  Abbey. 
The  coronation  Imagine,  then,  our  disappointment,  on 

Postponed.  reaching  the  place,  to  find  the  Abbey  closed, 
and  to  learn  from  the  policeman  at  the  door  that  no  one 
knew  when  it  would  be  opened  again,  certainly  not  for 
several  weeks.  You  see,  the  building  had  been  elabo- 
rately decorated  for  the  coronation  of  King  Edward  VII., 
for  this  is  where  all  the  Kings  of  England  have  been 
crowned,  from  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror  down ; 
and  while  we  were  crossing  the  ocean  King  Edward  be- 
came very  ill  and  had  to  undergo  a  surgical  operation, 
as  we  learned  on  landing  at  Southampton,  and  so  the 
great  ceremonies  planned  for  June  26th  had  to  be  post- 
poned. But  the  costly  draperies  used  in  the  decorations 
were  still  in  position,  and  had  to  remain  till  it  should  be 
seen  whether  the  King  would  be  well  enough  in  a  few 
weeks  to  receive  the  crown;  and  of  course  the  public 
could  not  be  admitted  to  the  Abbey  till  these  sumptuous 
fabrics  had  either  served  their  original  purpose  or  been 
removed.  Happily  the  King  did  recover  in  a  few  weeks, 
to  the  great  joy  of  his  subjects,  who,  chastened  and  sub- 
dued by  their  sovereign's  sickness  at  a  time  so  critical, 
came  to  the  coronation  on  the  second  date  appointed, 
August  9th,  in  a  more  thankful,  if  less  jubilant,  temper. 
The  Abbey  Meantime,  however,  we  had  gone  on  to 

still  closed.  Scotland,  after  three  weeks  in  London,  feel- 
ing sure  that  on  our  return  there  would  be  nothing  to 
prevent  our  seeing  the  great  Abbey  to  our  hearts'  content. 
But  no;  after  two  full  months  in  Edinburgh  and  the 


WESTMINSTER  ABBEY.  153 

Scottish  Highlands  and  the  west  of  England,  we  found 
the  Abbey  still  closed.  The  work  of  removing  the  tem- 
porary structures  and  hangings  used  at  the  coronation 
was  still  going  on,  a  fact  which  suggests  forcibly  the  ex- 
tent of  these  preparations,  and,  perhaps,  also  the  leisureli- 
ness  of  English  workmen,  who  are  probably  not  accus- 
tomed to  doing  things  as  rapidly  as  Americans.  But  we 
had  no  idea  of  being  deprived  altogether  of  a  sight  of  the 
interior  of  the  Abbey  by  their  slowness.  London  is  a 
place  of  endless  interest  to  visitors ;  and  so,  though  we 
had  already  given  three  weeks  to  the  principal  sights  of 
the  city,  we  contentedly  settled  down  for  two  weeks  more 
there,  till  the  work  in  the  Abbey  should  be  finished.  At 
last  it  was  all  done,  and  on  October  ist  the  building  was 
again  opened.  We  were  among  the  first  on  the  ground, 
and  gave  two  full  days  to  as  thorough  an  examination 
of  the  building  and  its  unparalleled  contents  as  was  prac- 
ticable within  that  time. 

The  Assembly  Of  this  inspection  of  the  Abbey  and  its 
of  Divines.  monuments  in  general  we  shall  have  some- 
thing to  say  after  a  while,  but  for  the  present  let  us 
turn  our  attention  to  those  parts  of  the  building  which 
are  associated  with  the  work  of  the  famous  Assembly 
of  ministers  and  other  scholars  who  met  here  in  1643  by 
ordinance  of  Parliament  "to  establish  a  new  platform  of 
worship  and  discipline  to  this  nation  for  all  time  to  come," 
and  to  whose  pious  and  learned  labors,  extending  through 
more  than  five  years  and  a  half,  and  occupying  one  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  sixty-three  sessions,  the  world  is 
indebted  for  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms  and  that 
great  Confession  of  Faith  "which,  alone  within  these 
islands,  was  imposed  by  law  on  the  whole  kingdom,"  and 
which,  by  its  fidelity  to  Scripture,  its  logical  coherence, 
and  the  majesty  and  fervor  of  its  style,  still  commands 
11 


154  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

the  adherence  of  a  multitude  of  the  clearest  and  strongest 

minds  in  Christendom. 

The  TWO  Places    The  two  parts  of  the  Abbey  especially  con- 

of Meeting,  nected  with  the  work  of  the  Assembly  are 
at  the  two  opposite  ends  of  the  building:  the  Chapel  of 
Henry  VII.  at  the  eastern  end,  and  the  Jerusalem  Cham- 
ber at  the  western;  the  one  the  most  beautiful  chapel  in 
the  world,  the  other  a  plain  but  comfortable  rectangular 
room.  Immediately  after  the  service  with  which  the 
Assembly  was  opened,  and  in  which  both  houses  of  Par- 
liament took  part,  and  which  was  probably  held  in  the 
choir  of  the  Abbey,  where  the  regular  daily  services  now 
take  place,  the  members  appointed  to  the  Assembly 
ascended  the  steps  to  the  Chapel  of  Henry  VII.,  and  there 
the  enrollment  was  made  and  the  earlier  sessions  held. 
That  was  in  summer,  but  when  the  weather  became  colder 
the  Assembly  gladly  forsook  the  architectural  magnifi- 
cence of  this  chapel,  called  by  Leland  "the  miracle  of  the 
world,"  for  the  comfortable  warmth  of  the  homely  room 
at  the  other  end  of  the  Abbey;  for,  as  Robert  Baillie, 
"the  Boswell  of  the  Assembly,"  says  in  his  delightful  ac- 
count of  the  proceedings,  the  Jerusalem  Chamber  "has  a 
good  fyre,  which  is  some  dainties  at  London." 
The  TWO  Types  In  this  removal  of  the  historic  Assembly 

of  worship,  from  the  cold  splendor  of  the  finest  per- 
pendicular building  in  England  to  the  plain  comfort  and 
common-sense  arrangements  of  the  little  rectangular  room 
where  they  were  to  reason  together  through  so  many 
months  concerning  the  teachings  of  Scripture,  one  may 
see  a  parable  of  the  Assembly's  action  in  rejecting  the 
ritualistic  type  of  worship,  with  its  predominating  appeal 
to  the  aesthetic  sensibilities  through  elaborate  ceremonies, 
and  its  adoption  of  the  New  Testament  type,  with  its 
predominating  appeal  to  the  mind  through  the  oral  teach- 


WESTMINSTER  ABBEY.  155 

ing  of  truth.  They  were  convinced  that  the  spiritual  life 
can  be  really  nourished  and  developed  only  by  the  intelli- 
gent apprehension  of  the  truth.  Their  own  statement  of 
the  matter,  drawn  up  in  this  very  room,  is  that  "the  Spirit 
of  God  maketh  the  reading,  but  especially  the  preaching 
of  the  Word,  an  effectual  means  of  convincing  and  con- 
verting sinners,  and  of  building  them  up  in  holiness  and 
comfort,  through  faith  unto  salvation."  And  so  those 
churches  which  have  adopted  the  standards  then  framed 
by  the  Westminster  divines  have  steadily  magnified  the 
didactic  element  of  public  worship,  accentuating  the  teach- 
ing function  of  the  minister  to  the  extinction  of  the 
priestly. 

We    pass    from    the    nave   of   the   Abbey 

Interior  of  the  •* 

Jerusalem  through  a  door  on  the  south  side  into  the 
ancient  cloisters,  and,  turning  to  the  right, 
ring  at  the  door  of  the  janitor.  A  cherry-cheeked  woman 
appears,  and,  when  we  state  that  we  wish  to  see  the  Jeru- 
salem Chamber,  she  brings  a  key,  turns  with  us  again 
to  the  right,  which  brings  us  to  the  southwest  corner  of 
the  Abbey,  and  ushers  us  through  an  ante-room  into  the 
celebrated  meeting-place  of  the  great  Assembly,  a  rectan- 
gular room,  running  north' and  south,  about  forty  feet  in 
length  by  twenty  in  breadth,  with  a  large  double  window 
in  the  western  side  opposite  the  spacious  fireplace  referred 
to  by  Baillie,  and  another  fine  window  in  the  northern 
end,  which,  by  the  way,  contains  the  finest  stained  glass 
in  the  whole  Abbey. 

A  long  table,  covered  with  a  plain  green  cloth,  occupies 
the  centre  of  the  room,  with  chairs  around  it  ready  for 
convocation ;  for  the  room  is  still  regularly  used  for  the 
meetings  of  ecclesiastical  functionaries,  occasionally  also 
for  special  gatherings  of  wider  interest,  the  most  notable 
of  which,  since  the  Westminster  Assembly,  was  the  series 


1 56  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

of  sessions  held  here  by  the  company  of  scholars  who 
had  been  appointed  to  revise  the  common  English  version 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  who,  in  1885,  brought  that  im- 
mensely difficult  and  important  work  to  a  successful  con- 
clusion by  their  publication  of  the  Revised  Version  of  the 
Old  Testament. 

This  room  has  been  the  scene  of  many  other  memora- 
ble events,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  but  none  of  them, 
nor  all  of  them,  can  equal  in  interest  and  importance  the 
work  of  that  great  Assembly  which  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago  formulated  that  lofty  ideal  of  human  life  so 
familiar  to  us  in  the  answer  to  the  first  question  of  the 
Shorter  Catechism:  What  is  the  chief  end  of  man? 
Man's  chief  end  is  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  for- 
ever —  a  statement  which  has  probably  had  a  deeper  and 
wider  influence  for  good  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  world  than 
any  other  twelve  words  ever  written  by  uninspired  men. 
__  .  ..  The  Jerusalem  Chamber,  in  which  the 

Exterior  of  the  J 

Jerusalem  Westminster  Assembly  of  divines  held  its 
long  sessions  and  did  its  immortal  work,  is 
a  low  building  which  runs  along  the  southern  half  of  the 
front  of  the  Abbey,  and  is  easily  seen  to  the  right  of  the 
main  door  in  any  picture  of  the  great  western  facade.  It 
strikes  one  at  first  as  an  architectural  blunder,  except  as 
a  foil  to  the  lofty  front  of  the  main  structure,  but  it  has 
served  many  great  practical  uses.  It  was  built  about  five 
hundred  years  ago,  in  the  old  days  of  monastery,  as  a 
guest  chamber  for  the  Abbot's  house.  I  may  pause  here 
a  moment  to  remind  my  younger  readers  of  the  fact  that 
the  word  "minster,"  as  in  "Westminster,"  is  equivalent 
to  monastery,  from  the  Latin  monasterium,  and  the  still 
more  curious  fact  that  the  word  has  been  preserved  more 
nearly  in  its  Latin  form  in  the  Monster  Tavern  and  the 
Monster  Omnibuses,  well  known  in  the  immediate  neigh- 


WESTMINSTER  ABBEY.  157 

borhood  of  the  Abbey,  which  derive  their  name  from  the 
same  ancient  monastery  now  known  as  Westminster, 
origin  of  .  The   name,   Jerusalem  Chamber,   seems   to 

its  Name.  have  been  derived  from  the  tapestries  with 
which  the  walls  were  originally  hung,  and  which  por- 
trayed different  scenes  in  the  history  of  Jerusalem.  Before 
the  meeting  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  however,  these 
had  been  replaced  by  another  series  of  pictures  represent- 
ing the  planets,  and  it  is  to  these  that  Baillie  refers  when 
he  tells  us  that  the  room  was  "well  hung."  To  the  same 
keen  observer,  whom  nothing  escaped,  we  are  indebted 
for  the  information  that  the  light  from  the  great  window 
was  softened  by  "curtains  of  pale  thread  with  red  roses." 
But  the  curtains  and  tapestries  that  Baillie  saw  have  in 
turn  given  place  to  those  which  the  visitor  now  sees  on 
the  walls,  and  which  do  not  call  for  special  notice  here. 
The  first  tapestries,  however,  those  which  gave  the  room 
its  name,  are  connected  with  one  of  the  most  memorable 
events  that  ever  occurred  in  this  historic  apartment,  the 
Death  of  death  of  Henry  IV.,  in  fulfillment,  as  the 

Henry  iv.  King  thought,  of  the  prophecy  that  he 
should  die  in  Jerusalem.  In  his  old  age  Henry  projected 
a  visit  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem,  by  way  of 
penance  for  his  usurpation,  and  when  the  galleys  were 
already  in  port  to  bear  him  on  his  journey,  he  came  to 
pay  his  parting  devotions  at  the  shrine  of  Edward  the 
Confessor  in  Westminster  Abbey.  There  he  was  seized 
with  a  chill,  and,  as  the  old  chronicler  says,  "became  so 
sick  that  such  as  were  about  him  feared  that  he  would 
have  died  right  there ;  wherefore  they,  for  his  comfort, 
bare  him  into  the  Abbot's  place,  and  lodged  him  in  a 
chamber,  and  there  upon  a  pallet  laid  him  before  the  fire, 
where  he  lay  in  great  agony  a  certain  time."  When 
borne  to  the  bed,  which  had  meantime  been  prepared  for 


158  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

him  in  another  room,  the  scene  occurred  which  is  so 
graphically  described  by  Shakespeare: 

"King  Henry. — Doth  any  name  particular  belong 
Unto  the  lodging  where  I  first  did  swoon? 

Warwick. — 'Tis  call'd  Jerusalem,  my  noble  lord. 
King  Henry. — Laud  be  to  God ! — even  there  my  life  must  end, 
It  hath  been  prophesied  to  me  many  years 
I  should  not  die  but  in  Jerusalem; 
Which  vainly  I  supposed  the  Holy  Land: 
But  bear  me  to  that  chamber;  there  I'll  lie; 
In  that  Jerusalem  shall  Harry  die." 

.   But  Henry  IV.  was  not  the  only  man  who 

Imprisonment  of  J 

sir  Thomas      looked  death  in  the  face  in  this  room.  Many 
More-  years  later,  when  Henry  VIII.  was  just  be- 

ginning that  infamous  career  of  divorcing  and  beheading 
wives,  and  burning  Protestants  as  heretics,  and  hanging 
Romanists  as  traitors  for  saying  that  the  Pope  was  supe- 
rior to  the  King  in  matters  of  religion  —  a  career  which 
has  made  his  name  one  of  the  most  detestable  in  history  — 
Sir  Thomas  More,  the  noblest  Englishman  of  his  time, 
was  arrested  for  his  refusal  to  swear  that  Henry's  mar- 
riage with  Anne  Boleyn  was  lawful,  and  on  his  way  to 
the  Tower  of  London  was  confined  for  four  days  in  the 
Jerusalem  Chamber.  Shortly  afterwards,  under  the  act 
of  Parliament  which  directed  that  every  one  who  refused 
to  give  the  King  a  title  belonging  to  him  was  to  be  put 
to  death  as  a  traitor,  Sir  Thomas  More  was  executed  on 
Tower  Hill  because  he  could  not  honestly  give  Henry  the 
title  of  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church  of  England. 

Other  dead  bodies,  too,  besides  that  of  Henry  IV.  have 
lain  in  this  room.  The  body  of  Dr.  South,  the  witty  and 
eloquent  court  preacher,  lay  in  state  here.  It  was  South 
who,  when  reading  from  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  the 
Acts  the  accusation  of  the  Thessalonian  mob  against  Paul 


WESTMINSTER  ABBEY.  159 

and  Silas  —  "These  that  have  turned  the  world  upside 
down  are  come  hither  also"  —  remarked  that  it  was  well 
for  the  apostles  to  turn  the  world  upside  down,  because 
the  devil  had  turned  it  downside  up. 

Funeral  of  From  the  Jerusalem  Chamber  the  body  of 
Joseph  the  illustrious  essayist,  Joseph  Addison, 
lon<  after  lying  in  state  for  four  days,  was  car- 
ried forth  in  that  memorable  funeral  procession  at  dead 
of  night  which  was  led  by  torchlight  round  the  shrine 
of  St.  Edward  and  the  graves  of  the  Plantagenets  to  the 
chapel  of  Henry  VII.,  the  body  being  finally  laid  to  rest 
opposite  the  Poet's  Corner  in  the  South  Transept.  "Such 
a  mark  of  national  respect  was  due  to  the  unsullied  states- 
man, to  the  accomplished  scholar,  to  the  master  of  pure 
English  eloquence,  to  the  consummate  painter  of  life  and 
manners.  It  was  due,  above  all,  to  the  great  satirist,  who 
alone  knew  how  to  use  ridicule  without  abusing  it ;  who, 
without  inflicting  a  wound,  effected  a  great  social  reform, 
and  who  reconciled  wit  and  virtue,  after  a  long  and  dis- 
astrous separation,  during  which  wit  had  been  led  astray 
by  profligacy,  and  virtue  by  fanaticism."  So  wrote  Lord 
Macaulay  of  Addison,  reminding  us,  at  the  same  time, 
how  Addison  "was  accustomed  to  walk  by  himself  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  and  meditate  on  the  condition  of 
those  who  lay  in  it" ;  and  now  Macaulay  himself  lies  there 
close  to  the  grave  of  Addison. 

sir  Isaac  But  the  most  illustrious  man  whose  body 

Newton.  has  ever  lain  in  state  in  the  Jerusalem  Cham- 
ber is  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  the  great  philosopher,  whom  his 
friends  called  "the  whitest  soul  they  had  ever  known," 
and  of  whom  Pope  wrote  the  celebrated  couplet: 

"Nature  and  nature's  laws  lay  hid  in  night ; 
God  said,  Let  Newton  be,  and  all  was  light." 


160  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Such  are  some  of  the  great  names  associated  with  the 
Jerusalem  Chamber  —  Henry  IV.,  Thomas  More,  Robert 
South,  Joseph  Addison,  Isaac  Newton  —  and  to  some  of 
them  the  whole  world  is  indebted,  as  to  Sir  Thomas  More 
for  his  calm  refusal  to  purchase  his  life  at  the  cost  of  his 
convictions,  and  to  Joseph  Addison  for  all  that  he  was 
as  an  author,  a  man,  and  a  Christian,  and  to  Sir  Isaac 
Newton  for  his  lofty  character  and  his  unparalleled  ser- 
vices to  the  cause  of  human  knowledge ;  but,  after  all,  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  the  world  is  more  deeply  in- 
debted to  any  of  them  than  to  that  body  of  thoroughgoing 
scholars  and  profound  thinkers  who  in  this  room  two 
centuries  and  a  half  ago  formulated  the  statement  that 
"effectual  calling  is  the  work  of  God's  Spirit,  whereby, 
convincing  us  of  our  sin  and  misery,  enlightening  our 
minds  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  renewing  our  wills, 
he  doth  persuade  and  enable  us  to  embrace  Jesus  Christ, 
freely  offered  to  us  in  the  gospel" —  and  one  hundred  and 
six  other  propositions  concerning  the  most  momentous 
interests  of  human  existence,  which  for  luminous  con- 
densation of  truth  have  never  been  surpassed  in  all  the 
history  of  the  human  expression  of  the  doctrines  of  Scrip- 
ture. 

An  Architec-  Westminster  Abbey  is  not  wanting  in  archi- 
turai  Triumph,  tectural  interest.  Indeed,  it  is  pronounced 
by  Mr.  Freeman  the  most  glorious  of  English  churches, 
and  is  said  to  be  the  one  great  church  of  England  which 
retains  its  beautiful  ancient  coloring  undestroyed  by  so- 
called  "restoration."  The  exterior  is  singularly  impres- 
sive, whether  viewed  from  the  east,  where  the  exquisite 
lacework  of  Henry  VII.'s  Chapel,  with  its  richly  decorated 
buttresses,  rivets  the  attention  at  the  first  glance ;  or  from 
the  north,  where  we  face  the  north  transept,  the  front  of 
which,  with  its  niches,  its  rose-window,  and  its  great 


WESTMINSTER  ABBEY.  161 

triple  entrance,  is  pronounced  by  Mr.  Hare  the  richest 
part  of  the  building  externally;  or  even  from  the  west, 
where,  in  spite  of  the  two  comparatively  late  and  feeble 
towers,  we  have  a  noble  front,  the  loftiness  of  which  is 
well  brought  out  by  "the  low  line  of  grey  wall  which 
indicates  the  Jerusalem  Chamber."  The  interior  is  still 
more  beautiful,  and,  as  we  have  already  seen,  this  beauty 
culminates  in  Henry  VII.'s  Chapel,  the  loveliness  of  which 
is  absolutely  unrivalled  in  the  whole  world.  In  his  very 
sympathetic  essay  on  Westminster  Abbey  in  The  Sketch 
Book,  Washington  Irving  says  of  this  wonderful  chapel : 
"On  entering,  the  eye  is  astonished  by  the  pomp  of  archi- 
tecture and  the  elaborate  beauty  of  sculptured  detail.  The 
very  walls  are  wrought  into  universal  ornament,  incrusted 
with  tracery,  and  scooped  into  niches,  crowded  with  the 
statues  of  saints  and  martyrs.  Stone  seems,  by  the  cun- 
ning labor  of  the  chisel,  to  have  been  robbed  of  its  weight 
and  density,  suspended  aloft,  as  if  by  magic,  and  the 
fretted  roof  achieved  with  the  wonderful  minuteness  and 
airy  security  of  a  cobweb." 

Coronations          But  the  intrinsic  beauty  of  the  building  is 
and  Burials.     oniv  a  smaii  part  of  the  explanation  of  the 
unique  place  which  it  holds  in  the  interest  of  mankind. 
The  two  real  reasons  are  suggested  by  Waller's  lines : 

"That  antique  pile  behold, 
Where  royal  heads  receive  the  sacred  gold : 
It  gives  them  crowns,  and  does  their  ashes  keep; 
There  made  like  gods,  like  mortals  there  they  sleep, 
Making  the  circle  of  their  reign  complete, 
Those  suns  of  empire,  where  they  rise  they  set." 

Coronation  and  burial!  Here  the  nominal  kings  are 
crowned.  Here  they  and  the  real  kings  —  those  who  by 
their  genius  and  character  really  rule  the  race  —  are 
buried. 


162  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

The  stone  ^n   the  chapel  of  Edward   the   Confessor 

ofScone.  stands  a  scratched  and  battered  wooden 
chair,  six  hundred  years  old,  beneath  the  seat  of  which 
is  inserted  a  thick,  flat  block  of  reddish  sandstone.  This 
is  the  celebrated  Stone  of  Destiny,  about  the  adventures 
and  travels  of  which  so  many  incredible  stories  have  been 
told,  from  the  time  of  its  alleged  use  by  the  patriarch 
Jacob  as  a  pillar  at  Bethel,  till  the  time  of  its  arrival  at 
Scone,  near  Perth,  in  Scotland.  It  is  certain  that  from 
the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  all  the  Scottish  kings 
were  crowned  on  this  stone,  till  it  was  captured  and  car- 
ried to  London  by  Edward  I.,  and  that  in  the  oak  chair 
beneath  which  the  stone  was  then  enclosed  all  the  kings 
of  England  since  the  time  of  Edward  I.  have  been 
crowned,  the  last  being  Edward  VII.,  on  the  9th  of  last 
August.  It  has  never  been  carried  out  of  the  church  but 
once.  That  was  when  it  was  taken  to  Westminster  Hall, 
across  the  street,  that  in  it  Oliver  Cromwell  might  be 
installed  Lord  Protector.  Thus  it  was  that  "the  greatest 
prince  that  ever  ruled  England,"  as  Lord  Macaulay  rightly 
calls  him,  the  man  who  refused  to  wear  the  crown,  but 
who  wielded  so  much  more  of  real  power  than  any  of 
those  who  did  wear  it  that  he  placed  England  in  the  fore- 
front of  European  nations  and  made  her  mistress  of  the 
seas,  was  not  inducted  into  his  office  in  the  Abbey,  where 
all  the  other  sovereigns  have  been  crowned  since  Wil- 
liam I.,  but  in  Westminster  Hall,  which  is  also  a  place 
of  extraordinary  historical  interest.  The  chair  which 
holds  the  Stone  of  Scone,  and  the  mate  to  it,  made  later 
and  used  for  the  queen  consort,  are,  of  course,  covered 
with  rich  upholstering  at  the  coronations,  and  much  of 
the  defacement  of  them  is  the  result  of  driving  nails  into 
the  wood  for  this  purpose. 


WESTMINSTER  ABBEY.  163 

whither  the         But   the   main   attracti°n   of   Westminster 
Paths  of  Abbey  is  neither  its  architectural  glory  nor 

Glory  Lead.  ^  connectjon  with  the  crowning  of  the 
nation's  sovereigns,  but  the  fact  that  it  is  the  chief  sepul- 
chre of  Britain's  great  men.  Not  only  is  the  building 
"paved  with  princes  and  a  royal  race,"  their  memory  a 
mingling  of  grandeur  and  of  shame,  but  the  uncrowned 
glories  of  the  nation,  the  true  and  pure  and  gifted,  lie 
there  as  well  under  our  feet,  or  are  commemorated  in 
stone  before  our  eyes.  Some  English  sovereigns  are 
buried  elsewhere,  as  Charles  I.  at  Windsor,  and  Victoria 
at  Frogmore;  some  preeminent  men  of  action  also,  as 
Nelson  and  Wellington  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral;  some 
authors,  too,  of  the  first  order  of  genius,  as  Shakespeare 
at  Stratford,  Milton  at  St.  Giles,  and  Goldsmith  in  the 
Temple  yard  at  London ;  and  so  on,  but  nowhere  else  on 
earth  have  the  ashes  of  so  many  great  men  been  brought 
together  as  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Moreover,  to  many 
who  are  buried  elsewhere  monuments  have  been  erected  in 
the  Abbey;  for  instance,  to  the  three  poets  who  have  just 
been  mentioned.  That  of  Shakespeare  is  a  marble  figure 
holding  a  scroll  on  which  are  inscribed  these  lines  from 
the  Tempest,  peculiarly  appropriate  in  the  building  where 
so  much  greatness  is  buried : 

"The  Cloud  capt  Towers, 
The  Gorgeous  Palaces, 
The  Solemn  Temples, 
The  Great  Globe  itself, 
Yea  all  which  it  Inherit, 

Shall  Dissolve, 

And  like  the  baseless  Fabrick  of  a  Vision 
Leave  not  a  rack  behind." 

In  St.  Margaret's  Church,  hard  by  the  Abbey  on  the 
north  side,  lies  the  decapitated  body  of  another  great 


164  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Englishman  of  the  Elizabethan  era,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
whose  History  of  the  World  contains  a  passage  which 
expresses,  as  no  other  within  my  knowledge  has  done, 
the  feeling  that  comes  to  a  thoughtful  man  as  he  walks 
through  this  solemn  burial  place  of  genius  and  power: 
"O  eloquent,  just,  and  mighty  Death!  whom  none  could 
advise,  thou  hast  persuaded ;  what  none  hath  dared,  thou 
hast  done;  and  whom  all  the  world  hath  flattered,  thou 
only  hast  cast  out  of  the  world  and  despised ;  thou  hast 
drawn  together  all  the  far-stretched  greatness,  all  the 
pride,  cruelty,  and  ambition  of  man,  and  covered  it  all 
over  with  these  two  words,  Hie  jacet." 

A  sober  autumn  day,  with  the  leaves  changing  and  the 
atmosphere  touched  with  melancholy  suggestive  of  the 
passing  of  worldly  glory,  prepared  us  to  feel  the  full 
force  of  Raleigh's  sentiment,  and,  as  we  stepped  through 
the  doorway  into  the  subdued  light  of  the  minster,  and 
saw  the  multitude  of  white  marble  statues  and  tombs 
stretching  through  dim  aisles  and  clustering  in  gloomy 
chapels,  we  were  "hushed  into  noiseless  reverence,"  and 
understood  what  Edmund  Burke  meant  when  he  said, 
"The  moment  I  entered  Westminster  Abbey,  I  felt  a  kind 
of  awe  pervade  my  mind  which  I  cannot  describe;  the 
very  silence  seemed  sacred." 
„  „  Remembering  that  "too  many  tombs  will 

The  Monuments  J 

of  the  Nave  produce  the  same  satiety  as  too  many  pic- 
and  Transepts.  tures>»  and  determined  not  to  fill  our  minds 
with  "a  hopeless  jumble  in  which  kings  and  statesmen, 
warriors,  ecclesiastics  and  poets  are  tossing  about  to- 
gether," we  began  at  the  Poet's  Corner,  as  every  one 
should  do  on  his  first  visit,  and,  merely  glancing  at  the 
monuments  of  subordinate  interest,  gave  our  time  to  those 
of  the  men  with  whose  lives  and  works  we  had  some 
acquaintance  from  our  former  reading,  thus  spending  a 


WESTMINSTER  ABBEY.  165 

whole  morning  in  the  two  transepts  and  the  nave.  What 
a  list  of  glorious  names  is  afforded  by  even  this  meagre 
selection!  Chaucer,  Spencer,  Browning,  Tennyson, 
Shakespeare,  Milton,  Gray,  Burns,  Scott,  Goldsmith,  Cole- 
ridge, Southey  (the  last  eight  named  being  represented  by 
monuments,  but  buried  elsewhere)  ;  Thackeray,  Addison, 
Macaulay,  Garrick,  Samuel  Johnson  (with  his  degree  of 
LL.  D.  chiselled  after  his  name  in  the  unscholarly  form 
of  "L.  L.  D." —  a  thing  which  would  have  mortified  him, 
and  which  one  would  not  expect  to  find  in  Westminster 
Abbey),  Charles  Dickens;  Dr.  Busby  (for  fifty-five  years 
head-master  of  Westminster  School,  celebrated  for  his 
extremely  free  use  of  the  rod  and  for  having  persistently 
kept  his  hat  on  when  Charles  II.  visited  his  school,  saying 
that  it  would  never  do  for  the  boys  to  think  any  one 
superior  to  himself)  ; — all  these  and  many  more  in  or 
near  the  south  transept;  then  in  the  nave,  Major  Andre 
(hanged  by  Washington  as  a  spy), Lord  Lawrence  ("who 
feared  man  so  little  because  he  feared  God  so  much"), 
David  Livingstone,  Charles  Darwin,  Sir  Isaac  Newton, 
Matthew  Arnold,  Charles  Kingsley,  Wordsworth,  Wil- 
liam Pitt,  Charles  James  Fox,  "Rare  Ben  Jonson" ;  then, 
in  the  north  transept,  Lord  Mansfield,  Warren  Hastings, 
and  others,  among  them  the  monument  of  the  "Loyall 
Duke  of  Newcastle"  ( 1676)  and  his  literary  wife,  a  most 
voluminous  writer,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  calling  up 
her  servants  at  all  hours  of  the  night  to  take  down  her 
thoughts,  much  to  the  disgust  of  her  husband.  When 
complimented  on  her  learning,  he  said,  "Sir,  a  very  wise 
woman  is  a  very  foolish  thing." 

A  great  deal  of  bad  taste  has  been  displayed 

Pagan  Sculp-  -     ,  .  <-r.i 

turesina         m  the  monuments  of  this  transept.     I  here 
Christian         js  a  coiossai  tomb  by  Nollekens,  the  worst 

Church.  ..          ., 

but  one  in  the  Abbey,  commemorating  three 


i66  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

sea  captains.  It  represents  Neptune  reclining  on  the  back 
of  a  sea-horse,  and  directing  the  attention  of  Britannia 
to  the  medallions  of  the  dead,  which  hang  from  a  rostral 
column  surmounted  by  a  figure  of  Victory.  "Is  that 
Christianity?"  asked  a  visitor,  pointing  to  Neptune  and 
the  trident.  "Yes,"  wittily  answered  Dean  Milman,  "it 
is  Tridentine  Christianity" — a  remark  which  has  an  ex- 
ceedingly keen  edge,  though  it  may  not  be  appreciated 
except  by  those  who  have  some  knownledge  of  the  relation 
sustained  by  the  Council  of  Trent  to  the  beliefs  and  prac- 
tices of  the  Romish  Church.  The  sculptors  were  for  a 
time  "weighed  down  by  the  pagan  mania  for  Neptunes, 
Britannias,  and  Victorys."  Goldwin  Smith  says,  "Some 
of  the  monuments  might  with  advantage  be  removed  from 
a  Christian  Church  to  a  heathen  Pantheon,  while  some 
might  be  better  for  being  macadamized." 
The  Nightingale  The  most  striking  monument  in  the  Abbey, 
Monuments,  though  Walpole  calls  it  "more  theatrical 
than  sepulchral,"  is  that  of  Lady  Elizabeth  Nightingale. 
In  the  lower  part  of  the  sculpture  a  skeleton  figure,  Death, 
has  broken  through  the  iron  doors  of  the  grave,  and, 
grasping  the  ledge  above  him  with  one  bony  hand,  is  in 
the  act  of  hurling  his  dart  with  the  other  at  the  lady,  who 
with  her  husband  occupies  the  upper  part  of  the  sculpture, 
and  who  is  represented  as  falling  back  into  the  arms  of 
her  horror-stricken  husband,  while  he  makes  frantic  but 
futile  efforts  to- shield  her  from  the  stroke.  Wesley  said 
Mrs.  Nightingale's  tomb  was  the  finest  in  the  Abbey,  as 
showing  "common  sense  among  heaps  of  unmeaning 
stone  and  marble" ;  but  Washington  Irving,  while  grant- 
ing that  the  whole  group  is  executed  with  terrible  truth 
and  spirit,  says  it  appears  to  him  horrible  rather  than 
sublime,  and  asks,  "Why  should  we  thus  seek  to  clothe 
death  with  unnecessary  terrors,  and  to  spread  horrors 


WESTMINSTER  ABBEY.  167 

round  the  'tomb  of  those  we  love  ?  The  grave  should  be 
surrounded  by  everything  that  might  inspire  tenderness 
and  veneration  for  the  dead ;  or  that  might  win  the  living 
to  virtue.  It  is  the  place,  not  of  disgust  and  dismay,  but 
of  sorrow  and  meditation." 


CHAPTER  XX. 
THE  ROYAL  CHAPELS  IN  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY. 

LONDON,  October  2,  1902. 

WE  had  reserved  our  last  day  in  London  for  a  visit 
to  the  eastern  part  of  the  great  Abbey,  where 
nearly  all  the  kings  and  queens  of  England  are  buried. 
There  is  a  charge  of  sixpence  for  admission  to  this  part 
A  Hard-hearted  °f  the  building.  When  we  had  paid  our 
verger.  fees>  a  black  robed,  bullet-headed,  hard- 
voiced  verger  led  us  rapidly,  along  with  a  big  crowd 
of  other  sightseers,  from  one  chapel  to  another,  point- 
ing out  one  or  two  objects  of  special  interest  in  each, 
and  speaking  a  few  words  of  explanation.  Thus  we  were 
"railroaded"  through  the  Royal  Chapels  in  the  most  tan- 
talizing manner.  When  we  were  all  turned  out  of  the 
iron  gate  at  the  end  of  this  rapid  round,  with  our  heads 
full  of  a  jumble  of  kings  and  queens,  and  other  notables, 
our  little  party  lingered  to  parley  with  our  burly  con- 
ductor, in  the  hope  of  getting  more  time  in  this  fascinating 
part  of  the  Abbey;  but,  though  a  shilling  is  a  wonder- 
worker in  England,  and  though  we  offered  to  pay  another 
fee  each  for  the  privilege  of  remaining  a  while  longer, 
our  guide  was  for  some  reason  obdurate.  It  should  be 
added,  in  justice  to  him,  that  this  was  only  the  second 
day  that  the  Abbey  had  been  opened  to  visitors,  after 
being  closed  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  summer 
on  account  of  the  coronation,  and  consequently  there  was 
a  much  larger  number  of  visitors  for  the  vergers  to  handle 
than  usual. 


THE  ROYAL  CHAPELS.  169 

A  courteous  We  were  not  yet  beaten,  however.  After  a 
sub-Dean,  brief  "council  of  war,"  two  of  us  walked  out 
through  the  cloisters,  rang  at  the  door  of  the  sub-Dean's 
residence,  and,  learning  that  he  was  not  in,  left  a  note 
for  him,  explaining  our  disappointment  at  having  waited 
so  long  for  the  Abbey  to  open,  only  to  find  that  we  could 
get  but  a  hasty  glance  at  some  of  its  most  interesting 
parts,  and  asking  him  to  give  us  permission  to  visit  those 
parts  at  our  leisure.  On  his  return  home,  the  sub-Dean, 
Canon  Duckworth,  very  courteously  wrote  the  desired 
authorization  that  we  should  visit  the  chapels  "without  a 
guide,"  and  this  permission  was  of  use  to  some  members 
of  the  party  that  afternoon. 

Meantime  it  occurred  to  us  that  all  vergers  might  not 
be  equally  ungracious,  so,  pending  the  Canon's  answer 
to  our  note,  we  approached  that  one  of  the  vergers  who 
seemed  to  have  the  most  benevolent  face,  informed  him 
that  we  had  just  been  through  the  chapels,  but  that  our 
guide  had  given  us  very  little  time,  and  had  not  shown 
us  the  wax  effigies  at  all,  which  we  were  very  anxious 
to  see,  and  asked  him  if  he  could  not  afford  us  a  better 
opportunity.  Unlike  him  of  the  stony  heart  into  whose 
hands  we  had  fallen  at  first,  this  one  promptly  and  kindly 
granted  our  request,  though  doubtless  expecting  a  fee, 
which,  by  the  way,  he  deserved  and  received,  and  not  only 
came  with  us  himself  to  show  us  the  wax  effigies,  but  then 
gave  us  liberty  to  roam  among  the  chapels  at  our  pleasure. 
It  was  now  dinner-time,  but  we  gladly  did  without  dinner 
in  order  to  improve  the  opportunity  thus  secured,  and 
set  about  a  leisurely  and  thorough  examination  of  the  con- 
tents of  the  chapels  and  adjoining  rooms  in  the  eastern 
half  of  the  building. 

The  wax          The  wax  work  figures  in  a  chamber  over 
Effigies.       one  Of  the  chapels  are  very  interesting,  and 
12 


170  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

should  not  be  missed  by  visitors  to  Westminster,  and  yet 
I  went  through  the  Abbey  some  years  ago  without  even 
knowing  that  they  were  there.  We  had  a  good  look  at 
them  this  time.  They  are  effigies  of  notable  personages, 
dressed  exactly  as  they  were  in  life.  These  effigies  were 
carried  at  the  public  funerals  of  those  whom  they  repre- 
sent. The  earlier  custom  was  to  carry  the  embalmed 
bodies  of  the  kings  and  queens,  with  faces  uncovered,  at 
their  funerals,  but  from  the  time  of  Henry  V.  these  life- 
like representations  were  carried  instead.  Here  is  Queen 
Elizabeth,  ugly  and  overdressed,  as  usual,  with  the  diadem 
on  her  head,  the  huge  ruff  round  her  neck,  the  long 
stomacher  covered  with  jewels,  the  velvet  robe  embroid- 
ered with  gold  and  supported  on  panniers,  and  the  pointed 
high-heeled  shoes  with  rosettes — "gotten  up,"  perhaps, 
pretty  much  as  she  was  when,  just  a  year  before  her  death, 
she  had  allowed  the  Scottish  ambassador,  as  if  by  accident, 
to  see  her  "dancing  high  and  disposedly,"  that  he  might 
disappoint  the  hopes  of  his  master,  King  James,  by  his 
report  of  her  health  and  spirits;  she  was  then  an  old 
woman.  There  are  few  subjects  more  perilous  for  a  man 
to  write  about  than  a  woman's  dress,  and  I  may  as  well 
tell  my  readers  that  in  the  foregoing  description  of  Eliza- 
beth's finery  I  have  closely  followed  good  authorities. 

Another  of  the  effigies  shows  us  the  swarthy  and  sen- 
sual face  of  Charles  II.  He  is  dressed  in  red  velvet,  with 
lace  collar  and  ruffles.  Here,  too,  is  the  strong  face  and 
slight  figure  of  William  III.,  represented  as  very  much 
shorter  than  Mary,  his  wife,  who  stands  nearly  six  feet 
in  height  beside  him.  The  fat  figure  of  Queen  Anne,  and 
the  very  small  one  of  Lord  Nelson,  with  the  empty  sleeve 
of  course,  are  among  the  most  interesting.  There  are 
eleven  in  all  still  existing.  A  good  many  have  disap- 
peared. 


THE  ROYAL  CHAPELS.  171 

Mutilated  The   shrine  of   Edward  the   Confessor  is 

Monuments.  raised  upon  a  kind  of  platform  mound,  said 
to  have  been  made  of  several  shiploads  of  earth  brought 
from  the  Holy  Land,  and  is  surrounded  by  the  tombs 
of  Edward  I.,  the  good  Queen  Eleanor,  Richard  II., 
Henry  V.,  and  others.  Above  the  grand  tomb  of  Henry  V. 
are  hung  his  shield,  saddle  and  helmet.  Upon  it  lies  the 
headless  effigy  of  the  great  king,  which  was  cut  from 
English  oak  and  plated  with  silver-gilt.  The  head,  which 
was  of  solid  silver,  with  teeth  of  gold,  was  stolen  from 
the  Abbey  centuries  ago.  Other  tombs  have  suffered  in 
the  same  way.  The  coffin  of  Edward  the  Confessor  has 
been  robbed  of  its  funeral  ornaments.  The  sceptre  has 
been  stolen  from  the  hand  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  One  of 
the  beautifully  modelled  fingers  of  the  recumbent  marble 
statue  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  has  been  broken  off, 
carried  away  as  a  souvenir,  perhaps,  by  some  conscience- 
less vandal. 

In  the  two  aisles  on  the  opposite  side  of  Henry  VII.'s 
Chapel  lie  the  remains  of  these  two  rival  queens,  Elizabeth 
and  Mary,  the  one  beheaded  by  the  other,  —  a  striking 
instance  of  the  equality  of  the  grave,  and  reminding  us 
of  Macaulay's  description  of  the  Abbey  as  "the  great  tem- 
ple of  silence  and  reconciliation,  where  the  enmities  of 
twenty  generations  lie  buried." 

I  have  only  touched  in  the  briefest  manner  a  few  of 
the  many  interesting  monuments  which  throng  the  royal 
chapels.  But  there  is  one  thing  that  I  must  write  to  you 
about  before  leaving  the  subject  of  Westminster  Abbey 
finally,  and  that  is  the  vacant  space  in  the  Central  Eastern 
Chapel,  where  the  body  of  the  greatest  man  that  ever 
ruled  England  once  lay,  and  the  story  of  why  his  body  is 
not  there  now. 

We  have  seen  that  Lord  Macaulay  speaks  of  West- 


172  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

minster  Abbey  as  "the  great  temple  of  silence  and  recon- 
ciliation, where  the  enmities  of  twenty  generations  lie 
buried."  In  the  same  strain,  Sir  Walter  Scott  writes : 

"Here,  where  the  end  of  earthly  things 
Lays  heroes,  patriots,  bards,  and  kings ; 
Where  stiff  the  hand  and  still  the  tongue 
Of  those  who  fought,  and  spoke,  and  sung; 
Here,  where  the  fretted  aisles  prolong 
The  distant  notes  of  holy  song, 
As  if  some  angel  spoke  again, 
'All  peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men' ; 
If  ever  from  an  English  heart, 
Oh !   here  let  prejudice  depart." 

These  are  fine  sentiments,  and  certainly  the  policy  of  the 
authorities  of  the  Abbey  has  been  broad  enough  in  some 
respects,  far  too  broad  indeed,  as  many  think,  in  the  mat- 
ter of  admitting  the  bodies  of  men  of  skeptical  views  and 
evil  lives  to  lie  here  alongside  of  the  great  and  good  in 
God's  house. 

But  in  some  other  respects  the  policy  has 

Monuments  _,,  .  - 

Denied  to        been   a   narrow   one.      The   erection   of   a 
Notable          monument  here  to  Louis  Napoleon,  the  late 
Prince  Imperial  of  France,  who  fell  in  Zulu- 
land  while  fighting  in  the  cause  of  England,  was  pre- 
vented by  what  has  been  called  "the  illiberal  clamor  of  an 
ienorant  faction."     Bv  the  wav,  within  the  precincts  of 

^  ^ 

the  Roman  Catholic  Oratory  of  Brompton,  in  West  Lon- 
don, stands  a  statue  of  Cardinal  Newman,  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  modern  apostates,  who  forsook  the  English 
Church  for  the  Romish ;  it  was  intended  for  Oxford,  but 
was  refused  by  the  University,  and  not  allowed  a  place 
in  the  streets  of  London.  These  two  are  not  very  good 
examples  of  the  kind  of  narrowness  to  which  I  refer  — 
one  can  hardly  blame  the  English  churchmen  for  the 


THE  ROYAL  CHAPELS.  173 

treatment  accorded  to  Newman's  statue,  —  they  are  sim- 
ply instances  which  naturally  come  to  mind  in  connection 
with  the  general  subject.  I  will  give  an  example  presently 
of  the  complete  triumph  of  prejudice  in  the  exclusion 
from  the  Abbey  of  the  greatest  man  of  action  that  Eng- 
land ever  produced. 

The  objection  Meantime,  as  leading  up  to  that,  let  us  note 
to  Milton.  the  remark  of  Dr.  Gregory  to  Dr.  Johnson 
when,  in  1737,  the  monument  of  Milton  was  placed  in 
the  Abbey :  "I  have  seen  erected  in  the  church  a  bust  of 
that  man  whose  name  I  once  knew  considered  a  pollution 
of  its  walls."  He  was  referring  to  the  action  of  Dein 
Sprat  in  cutting  away  a  part  of  the  fulsome  epitaph  on 
the  tomb  of  John  Philips  which  compared  him  to  Milton, 
of  whom  he  was  a  feeble  imitator.  "The  line,  'Uni  Mil- 
tono  secnndus,  primoque  paene  par'  was  effaced  under 
Dean  Sprat,  not  because  of  its  almost  profane  arrogance, 
but  because  the  royalist  dean  would  not  allow  even  the 
name  of  the  regicide  Milton  to  appear  within  the  Abbey — 
it  was  'too  detestable  to  be  read  on  the  wall  of  a  building 
dedicated  to  devotion.'  The  line  was  restored  under  Dean 
Atterbury,"  and,  as  already  noted,  a  bust  of  the  great 
Puritan  genius  was  installed  in  the  Abbey  a  few  decades 
later,  so  that  the  triumph  of  prejudice  in  this  case  was 
short-lived. 

The   story   reminds  one  of  the  action   of 

Melgs  and       General   Meigs  in  removing  the  name  of 

President        President  Davis  from  the  record-stone  of 

the  Cabin  John  Bridge  near  Washington. 

This  magnificent  aqueduct  bridge,  one  of  the  largest  and 

most  beautiful   single   stone   arches   in   the  world,   was 

erected  by  Jefferson  Davis  while  Secretary  of  War  for 

the  United  States,  and  of  course  his  name,  with  those  of 

the  then  President  and  other  high  officials  of  the  govern- 


174  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

ment,  was  placed  on  the  completed  structure.  When  the 
Civil  War  came  on,  and  Mr.  Davis  was  elected  President 
of  the  Confederate  States,  General  Meigs  had  the  misfor- 
tune to  lose  a  son  in  battle  in  Virginia.  One  can  feel  pro- 
found sympathy  with  him  in  such  a  bereavement,  but  does 
it  not  seem  a  small  and  childish  thing  that  he  should 
then  have  had  Mr.  Davis'  name  chiselled  off  the  bridge 
in  revenge?  And  has  not  his  action,  like  Dean  Sprat's, 
defeated  itself?  The  blank  made  in  the  inscription  ex- 
cited curiosity  and  gave  rise  to  questions,  which  brought 
out  the  whole  story,  and  thus  reminded  many  people  who 
might  otherwise  have  forgotten  it,  what  eminent  services 
Jefferson  Davis  had  rendered  to  the  united  country  before 
the  unhappy  division  which  made  him  the  President  of 
that  portion  of  it  with  which  his  greater  fame  is  now 
associated. 

The  vindication  To  but  f  ew  men  in  her  long  history  is  Eng- 
ofcromweii.  jand  so  .d€eply  indebted  as  to  Oliver  Crom- 
well. Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion,  written  by  a 
bitterly  hostile  and  prejudiced  contemporary,  effectually 
blackened  Cromwell's  character  for  some  two  hundred 
years,  the  misrepresentation  being  continued  by  other 
royalist  writers,  such  as  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  Woodstock. 
Carlyle's  publication  of  Cromwell's  own  letters  proved 
that  he  had  been  grossly  slandered,  and  put  it  beyond 
question  that  the  Protector  was  a  sincere  and  godly  man 
*  and  a  true  patriot,  as  well  as  the  greatest  man  of  action 
that  had  ever  lived  in  England.  This  is  the  view  taken 
of  Cromwell  by  the  more  recent  biographies  of  him, 
which  have  been  coming  from  the  press  in  significantly 
rapid  succession,  such  as  Hood's,  Gardiner's,  John  Mor- 
ley's  and  President  Roosevelt's.  So  that  in  several  senses 
Cromwell  is  coming  to  his  own  again,  though  his  work 
seemed  at  one  time  to  have  failed  utterly,  and  to  have 


THE  ROYAL  CHAPELS.  1^5 

been  swept  clean  away  by  the  restoration  of  Charles  II. 
to  the  throne. 

Treatment  of  It  is  of  the  indignities  visited  upon  Crom- 
his  Dead  Body  well's  remains  at  the  time  of  this  Restora- 
tion that  I  wish  to  tell  you.  The  great  men  of  the  Com- 
monwealth and  several  members  of  Cromwell's  family 
were  buried  in  the  extreme  eastern  end  of  the  Abbey. 
After  the  Restoration  they  were  disinterred  from  this  hon- 
orable place  of  sepulture,  and  the  only  member  of  the 
Protector's  family  who  was  allowed  to  remain  in  the 
Abbey  was  his  second  daughter,  Elizabeth  Claypole,  "as 
being  both  a  royalist  and  a  member  of  the  Church  of 
England." 

The  bodies  of  Cromwell,  his  son-in-law,  General  Ire- 
ton,  and  Bradshaw,  the  judge  who  had  condemned 
Charles  I.,  were  dragged  through  London  on  sledges  and 
hanged  at  Tyburn,  and  their  heads  were  set  up  on  the 
high  roof-gable  of  Westminster  Hall,  the  very  building 
in  which  Cromwell  had  been  made  Lord  Protector  of  the 
Commonwealth.  It  is  safer  to  kick  a  dead  lion  than  a 
living  one.  Fancy  these  valiant  royalists  treating  Crom- 
well that  way  in  his  lifetime ! 

,  Cromwell's  head,  having  been  embalmed  be- 

History  of  ' 

Cromwell's  fore  his  burial,  "remained  exposed  to  the 
atmosphere  for  twenty-five  years,  and  then 
one  stormy  night  it  was  blown  down,  and  picked  up  by 
the  sentry,  who,  hiding  it  under  his  cloak,  took  it  home 
and  secreted  it  in  the  chimney  corner;  and,  as  inquiries 
were  constantly  being  made  about  it  by  the  government, 
it  was  only  on  his  death-bed  that  he  revealed  where  he 
had  hidden  it.  His  family  sold  the  head  to  one  of  the 
Cambridgeshire  Russells,  and  in  the  same  box  in  which 
it  still  is,  it  descended  to  a  certain  Samuel  Russell,"  who, 
being  in  need,  sold  it  to  James  Cox,  the  keeper  of  a 


176  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

famous  museum.  Cox  in  turn  sold  it,  about  the  time  of 
the  French  Revolution,  for  $1,150,  to  three  men,  who 
made  a  business  of  exhibiting  it  at  half  a  crown  per  head 
in  Bond  Street,  London.  At  the  death  of  the  last  of  these 
three  men,  it  came  into  the  possession  of  his  three  nieces. 
These  young  ladies,  being  nervous  at  keeping  it  in  the 
house,  asked  Mr.  Horace  Wilkinson,  their  physician,  to 
take  charge  of  it  for  them,  and  finally  sold  it  to  him ;  and 
in  his  house  at  Sevenoaks,  Kent,  the  head  of  Oliver  Crom- 
well remains  to  this  day. 

It  is  a  ghastly  story,  though  I  have  been  careful  to 
leave  out  the  most  gruesome  details. 

To-day,  immediately  in  front  of  Westminster  Hall, 
where  his  head  was  first  exposed  in  dishonor,  stands  a 
bronze  statue  of  the  Great  Protector,  with  a  Bible  in 
one  hand  and  a  sword  in  the  other,  —  erected  within  the 
last  five  years,  —  and  doubtless  the  day  will  come  when  a 
monument  of  "the  greatest  prince  that  ever  ruled  Eng- 
land" will  be  given  its  rightful  place  in  Westminster 
Abbey. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  CATHEDRALS  vs.  THE  GOSPEL. 

LONDON,  October  2,  19x12. 

T)  EFORE  saying  what  I  had  in  mind  when  I  remarked, 
-•-'  in  a  former  letter,  that  in  some  respects  the  English 
cathedrals  had  proved  to  be  hindrances  to  vital  religion, 
I  wish  to  cite  what  Goldwin  Smith  says  of  the  significance 
Ori  inaisi  an(^  beauty  of  these  glorious  monuments  of 

nificance  of  the  mediaeval  piety:  "Nothing  so  wonderful  or 
beautiful  has  ever  been  built  by  man  as 
these  fanes  of  mediaeval  religion  which  still,  surviving  the 
faith  and  the  civilization  which  reared  them,  rise  above 
the  din  and  smoke  of  modern  life  into  purity  and  stillness. 
In  religious  impressiveness  they  far  excel  all  the  works 
of  heathen  art,  and  all  the  classical  temples  of  the  Renais- 
sance. Even  in  point  of  architectural  skill  they  stand 
unrivalled,  though  they  are  the  creations  of  an  age  before 
mechanical  science.  Their  groined  roofs  appear  still  to 
baffle  imitation.  But  we  do  not  fully  comprehend  the 
marvel,  unless  we  imagine  the  cathedrals  rising,  as  they 
did,  out  of  towns  which  were  then  little  better  than  col- 
lections of  hovels,  with  but  small  accumulation  of  wealth, 
and  without  what  we  now  deem  the  appliances  of  civilized 
life.  Never  did  man's  spiritual  aspirations  soar  so  high 
above  the  realities  of  his  worldly  lot  as  when  he  built 
the  cathedrals."  The  last  proposition  is  not  true.  What 
Professor  Smith  wished  to  say  was  that  never  did  an 
outward,  material  expression  of  man's  religion  so  far  sur- 
pass all  his  other  outward  conditions.  But  even  when 
thus  stated,  it  must  be  remembered  that  these  great  struc- 


178  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

tures  were  not  erected  by  those  who  inhabited  the  "hovels" 
referred  to,  but  by  kings,  or  nobles,  or  prelates  who  lived 
in  palaces  and  rolled  in  wealth.  Still,  the  cathedrals  were 
built  as  an  expression  of  religion.  Religion  in  the  Middle 
Ages  expressed  itself  chiefly  in  the  erection  of  these  costly 
and  splendid  buildings,  as  it  now  expresses  itself  chiefly 
in  missionary  activity. 

Their /Esthetic  Passing  by,  for  the  present,  Westminster 
influence.  Abbey,  Canterbury  and  Winchester,  which 
excel  all  others  in  historical  interest,  and  St.  Paul's,  which, 
though  the  largest  of  all,  is  modern,  we  may  agree  fully 
with  Smith's  estimate  of  the  relative  merits  of  the  different 
cathedrals  and  the  effect  produced  by  them :  that  "Salis- 
bury is  the  most  perfect  monument  of  mediaeval  Chris- 
tianity in  England";  that  in  height  and  grandeur  the 
palm  is  borne  off  by  York;  in  beauty  and  poetry,  by 
Lincoln;  that  Norman  Durham,  "half  church  of  God, 
half  castle  'gainst  the  Scot,"  is  profoundly  imposing  from 
its  massiveness,  which  seems  enduring  as  the  foundations 
of  the  earth,  as  well  as  from  its  commanding  situation ; 
that  Ely  also  is  a  glorious  pile,  on  its  unique  mound 
among  the  fens;  and  that  Wells  and  Salisbury  are  "the 
two  best  specimens  of  the  cathedral  close,  that  haven  of 
religious  calm  amidst  this  bustling  world,  in  which  a  man 
tired  of  business  and  contentious  life  might  delight,  espe- 
cially if  he  has  a  taste  for  books,  to  find  tranquillity,  with 
quiet  companionship,  in  his  old  age.  Take  your  stand  on 
the  close  of  Salisbury  or  Wells  on  a  summer  afternoon 
when  the  congregation  is  filing  leisurely  out  from  the 
service  and  the  sounds  are  still  heard  from  the  cathedral, 
and  you  will  experience  a  sensation  not  to  be  experienced 
in  the  New  World." 

Having  shown  by  these  citation  that  Goldwin  Smith 
is  not  indifferent  to  the  aesthetic  influence  of  the  cathe- 


THE  CATHEDRALS  vs.  THE  GOSPEL.     179 

drals,  I  wish  now  to  quote  from  him  a  final  paragraph 
which  states  very  well  the  practical  point  to  which  I  re- 
ferred in  the  outset : 

Their  Roman-  "The  cathedral  and  the  parish  church  be- 
izine  Tendency.  iong  to  the  present  as  well  as  to  the  past. 
Indeed,  tney  have  been  recently  exerting  a  peculiar  influ- 
ence over  the  present,  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
spell  of  their  beauty  and  their  adaptation,  as  places  of 
[Roman]  Catholic  devotion,  to  the  Ritualistic  rather  than 
to  the  Protestant  form  of  worship  have  had  a  great  effect 
in  producing  the  Neo-Catholic  reaction  of  the  last  half 
century.  Creations  of  the  religious  genius  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  they  have  been  potent  missionaries  of  the  mediaeval 
faith." 

I  wish  to  call  special  attention  to  this  ominous  feature 
of  the  influence  of  English  cathedrals  upon  the  forms, 
and  thus  eventually  upon  the  spirit,  of  Christian  worship. 
I  am  not  unsusceptible,  I  think,  to  the  glorious  beauty 
of  these  stately  buildings,  or  the  spell  of  their  exquisite 
music,  or  the  fascination  of  their  spectacular  forms  of 
worship.  I  shall  never  forget  the  solemn  impression 
made  upon  my  mind  the  first  time  I  ever  entered  a  great 
cathedral,  when,  at  Chester,  I  stepped  from  the  broad 
glare  of  outer  sunshine  into  the  cool,  dim  light  of  the 
minster,  and  heard  the  choir  of  white-robed,  sweet-voiced 
boys  responding  with  a  prolonged,  musical  "A-men," 
accompanied  by  the  great  organ,  as  the  priest  intoned  the 
English  service.  But  I  am  clear,  nevertheless,  that  Gold- 
win  Smith  is  right  in  saying  that  by  their  adaptation  to 
the  ritualistic  rather  than  the  Protestant  form  of  worship 
the  cathedrals  have  been  potent  missionaries  of  the  medi- 
aeval faith. 

The  Roman  Catholic  ideal  of  Christian  worship  is 
very  different  from  that  of  Protestants.  Its  functionary 


i8o  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

is  a  priest,  who  offers  sacrifice,  and  performs  the  cere- 
monies of  an  elaborate  ritual.  Its  appeal  is  chiefly  to 
the  senses  and  the  aesthetic  sensibilities.  Protestants,  on 
the  other  hand,  hold  that  the  minister  is  not  a  priest,  but 
a  teacher;  his  function  is  not  the  performance  of  cere- 
monies, but  the  inculcation  of  truth.  The  truly  Pro- 
testant churches  appeal  chiefly  to  the  mind  rather  than 
to  the  senses,  they  rely  upon  ideas  rather  than  ceremonies, 
because  they  know  that  only  by  the  intelligent  apprehen- 
sion of  truth  can  the  spiritual  life  be  really  nourished 
and  developed.  In  a  Romish  church  the  central  thing  is 
the  altar.  In  a  Protestant  church  the  central  thing  is  the 
pulpit.  In  short,  Romish  churches  are  built  for  ceremo- 
nies, and  Protestant  churches  for  preaching.  The  cathe- 
drals were  erected  as  Romish  churches.  There  was  little 
or  no  thought  of  their  being  used  for  preaching.  They 
were  erected  as  expressions  in  stone  of  religious  aspira- 
tion; they  are  "frozen  music";  they  are  places  for  pro- 
cessions, and  incense,  and  altars,  and  pictures,  and  vest- 
ments, and  chants,  but  they  are  not  adapted  to  preaching. 
They  are  too  large,  for  one  thing.  No  man  could  make 
himself  heard  throughout  some  of  them.  Nor  was  it 
intended  that  he  should. 

,       It   is   an  extraordinary   paradox   that   the 

Their  Charm  for  ' 

the  Greatest  of    finest  expression  in  any  language  of  the  idea 

the  Puritans.        whjch  jay   }n   the  m}nds  Qf  thos 

the  cathedrals  was  given  by  a  Puritan  writer : 

"But  let  my  due  feet  never  fail 
To  walk  the  studious  cloisters  pale ; 
And  love  the  high  embowe'd  roof 
With  antique  pillars  massy  proof: 
And  storied  windows,  richly  dight, 
Casting  a  dim,  religious  light. 
There  let  the  pealing  organ  blow 
To  the  full-voic'd  choir  below, 


THE  CATHEDRALS  vs.  THE  GOSPEL.     181 

In  service  high  and  anthems  clear, 

As  may,  with  sweetness  through  mine  ear, 

Dissolve  me  into  ecstasies, 

And  bring  all  heaven  before  mine  eyes." 

Thus  Milton  in  //  Penseroso,  the  interpretation  of  which 
I  must  leave  to  the  students  of  that  exquisite  poem.  Only 
let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  in  his  Eikonoclastes,  Milton 
ridicules  the  organs  and  the  singing  men  in  the  King's 
chapel,  as  well  as  the  "English  mass-book"  of  the  "old 
Ephesian  goddess  called  the  Church  of  England."  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  Milton  is  at  times  vituperative  in  his  prose 
writings. 

A  Half-reformed  Let  us  be  more  respectful  in  our  references 
church.  to  the  Church  of  England.  It  contains 
many  good  people  and  has  done  much  good  work.  Still, 
it  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  it  never  has  been  a  thor- 
oughly reformed  church.  Its  origin  as  a  separate  church 
was  different  from  that  of  the  Reformed  churches.  Not 
through  the  protracted  struggles  of  people  and  ministers 
did  it  win  out  clear  from  Romanism,  with  generally  dif- 
fused and  clear  convictions  of  truth,  as  was  the  case  with 
the  really  Reformed  churches,  but  by  the  act  of  Henry 
VIII.  detaching  a  certain  portion  of  the  Catholic  Church 
from  the  papacy,  for  interesting  domestic  reasons,  and 
making  himself  the  head  of  the  church.  That  was  the 
origin  of  the  Church  of  England  as  entirely  distinct  from 
the  Church  of  Rome.  Henry  did  not  wish  to  become  a 
Protestant  at  all,  nor  did  he  wish  the  people  to  change 
their  religion,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  had  people 
burned  alive  for  being  Protestants.  Of  course,  Protestant- 
ism did  make  progress  afterwards  under  Edward  VI. 
and  Elizabeth,  but  there  never  was  a  sufficiently  decisive 
break  with  Romish  doctrine  and  Romish  forms  of  wor- 
ship. And,  the  architecture  of  the  cathedrals  and  parish 


1 82  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

churches  being  what  it  is,  there  has  been  a  constant  ten- 
dency to  relapse  to  the  Romish  model  outright. 

If  we  seem  to  attribute  too  much  influence  to  mere 
architecture,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  structure  and 
arrangements  of  the  college  buildings  at  Oxford,  which 
did  not  admit  of  family  life,  but  were  designed  for  the 
mediaeval  clerical  students  who  were  celibates,  have  had 
a  tendency  to  revive  the  monk,  and  that,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  these  Oxford  colleges  produced  Newman  and  the 
other  leaders  of  the  Anglo-Catholic  reaction  in  our  day, 
to  say  nothing  of  Laud  and  his  reaction  two  centuries  ago. 
Relics  of  How  easily  the  cathedrals  may  aid  Roman 

Romanism.  Catholicism,  and  how  strong  is  the  linger- 
ing influence  of  what  Macaulay  calls  "that  august  and 
fascinating  superstition,"  may  be  seen  not  only  in  the 
general  character  of  the  services,  but  also  in  certain  de- 
tails. Each  cathedral  has  what  is  still  called  a  Lady 
Chapel,  that  is,  a  chapel  dedicated  to  Our  Lady,  the  Virgin 
Mary.  In  the  Lady  Chapel  of  Winchester  Cathedral  is 
a  series  of  highly  prized  wall  paintings,  of  whose  edify- 
ing character  the  reader  may  judge  when  he  learns  that 
one  of  them  represents  "the  Virgin  commanding  the  burial 
of  a  clerk  of  irreligious  life  in  consecrated  ground,  be- 
cause he  had  been  her  votary";  while  another  depicts  a 
miracle  by  an  image  of  the  Virgin,  which  is  bending  its 
finger,  so  as  to  prevent  a  young  man  from  taking  off  a 
ring,  given  him  by  his  lady  love,  which  he  had  placed  on 
the  image  that  it  might  not  be  lost  or  injured  while  he 
played  at  ball.  "By  this  the  young  man  was  won  to 
monastic  life."  Does  this  mean  that  he  jilted  the  girl, 
or  that  she  discarded  him  for  losing  her  ring? 

Again,  the  inscription  on  the  tomb  of  the  builder  of 
that  cathedral,  William  of  Wykeham,  the  same  who  built 
the  round  tower  at  Windsor  Castle,  records  his  work  as 


THE  CATHEDRALS  vs.  THE  GOSPEL.    183 

bishop,  politician,  and  founder  of  colleges,  and  concludes 
with  this  injunction: 

"You  who  behold  this  tomb  cease  not  to  pray 
That,  for  such  great  merits,  he  may  enjoy  everlasting  life." 

Finally,  the  most  striking  effigy  on  any  tomb  in  Win- 
chester Cathedral  is  that  of  a  great  dignitary  of  the 
Romish  Church,  Cardinal  Beaufort,  represented  here  by 
a  very  fine  recumbent  figure  in  scarlet  cloak  and  hat.  He 
was  enormously  wealthy,  was  four  times  Lord  Chancellor 
of  England,  was  present  at  the  burning  of  Joan  of  Arc 
at  Rouen,  and  is  said  to  have  burst  into  tears  and  to  have 
left  the  horrible  scene;  but  he  persecuted  the  Lollards 
and  gave  a  half  million  pounds  to  put  down  the  Hussites 
in  Bohemia,  in  which  crusade  he  was  general  and  legate. 
Yet  here  he  lies,  one  of  the  most  honored  figures,  in  what 
is  generally  regarded  as  a  Protestant  church. 

These  points  are  sufficient  to  indicate  what  I  mean 
by  saying  that  the  cathedrals  have  in  some  respects  had 
an  unfavorable  influence  upon  the  doctrine  and  worship 
of  the  Church  of  England. 

If  at  the  Reformation  every  cathedral  in 

Presbyterians  _.  •!-,••«  11,- 

also  have  Felt  Great  Britain  had  been  pounded  to  pieces 
the  Effect  by  t^  iconoclasts,  it  would  have  been  an 
immeasurable  calamity  to  art,  but  it  might 
have  been  a  real  gain  for  religion.  At  any  rate,  it  is 
ritualism  rather  than  religion  that  is  now  promoted  by 
the  cathedrals.  Nor  is  the  English  Church  the  only  one 
that  has  inherited  these  splendid  but  baleful  monuments 
of  mediaeval  Romanism.  The  Presbyterian  Church  has 
come  into  the  possession  of  a  few.  The  people  of  Scot- 
land at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  remembering  their 
oppression  and  impoverishment  by  the  great  church  estab- 
lishments, and  disregarding  the  more  moderate  counsels 


184  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

of  their  leaders,  smashed  most  of  these  buildings  which 
fell  to  them,  witness  Melrose  Abbey  and  many  others  — 
John  Knox  speaks  of  "the  rascal  multitude"  that  de- 
stroyed the  buildings  at  Perth  —  but  one  or  two  they 
spared,  for  example,  the  Cathedral  at  Glasgow.  It  is 
maintained  by  some  that  the  same  tendency  to  ritualism 
manifests  itself  in  these  Presbyterian  cathedrals  as  in 
others,  though,  of  course,  not  to  the  same  extent.  Cer- 
tainly our  simple  and  scriptural  forms  of  worship,  with 
the  prominence  which  they  give  to  the  preaching  of  the 
Word,  suit  a  warm,  home-like  church,  where  everything 
can  be  heard,  much  better  than  they  do  a  cold  and  vast 
cathedral  of  stone  which  is  too  large  for  any  congregation 
that  ever  assembles  in  it,  and  where  the  voice  of  the 
preacher  is  lost  among  the  lofty  arches. 

While  the  Presbyterians  have  in  some  cases  not  freed 
themselves  completely  from  the  Romish  associations,  and 
in  the  great  buildings  which  were  erected  for  Romish 
worship  show  something  of  the  same  tendency  to  undue 
ritualism,  still 'I  think  it  will  be  generally  conceded  that 
they  severed  the  connection  with  Rome  more  effectually, 
on  the  whole,  than  any  other  church. 

Nor  did  their  worship  lose  in  real  religious 

Protestant  .  „.        TTT   ,  ,, 

simplicity       impressiveness.     Even    Sir    Walter    Scott 
more  (who,  though  a  Presbyterian  elder,  had  a 

Impressive.  ,          .         ...         1  «        \ 

strong  leaning  to  the  ritualistic  churches), 
in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  Rob  Roy,  puts  into  the  mouth 
of  his  hero  this  description  of  the  Presbyterian  service  in 
the  crypt  of  Glasgow  Cathedral : 

"I  had  heard  the  service  of  high  mass  in  France,  cele- 
brated with  all  the  eclat  which  the  choicest  music,  the 
richest  dresses,  the  most  imposing  ceremonies,  could  con- 
fer on  it;  yet  it  fell  short  in  effect  of  the  simplicity  of 
the  Presbyterian  worship.  The  devotion,  in  which  every 


THE  CATHEDRALS  vs.  THE  GOSPEL.     185 

one  took  a  share,  seemed  so  superior  to  that  which  was 
recited  by  musicians  as  a  lesson  which  they  had  learned 
by  rote,  that  it  gave  the  Scottish  worship  all  the  advan- 
tage of  reality  over  acting." 

The  more  I  see  of  the  high  church  "service"  the  more 
incomprehensible  it  seems  to  me  that  any  thoughtful  man 
can  take  any  other  view  than  the  one  thus  expressed  by 
Scott.  The  service  he  describes  was  indeed  conducted  in 
a  cathedral,  but  it  was  in  the  crypt,  the  part  best  adapted 
to  intelligent  Protestant  worship,  on  account  of  its  smaller 
dimensions  and  better  acoustics. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
SOME  THINGS  FOR  HIGH  CHURCHMEN  TO  THINK  ABOUT. 

LONDON,  October  3,  1902. 

IT  does  not  follow,  from  what  I  said  in  my  former  letter 
about  the  different  forms  of  service  in  use  among 
Episcopalians  and  Presbyterians,  respectively,  that  the 
latter  necessarily  disapprove  of  the  use  of  written  prayers. 
So  far  is  this  from  being  the  case  that  Calvin  and  Knox 
themselves  wrote  liturgies,  though  neither  they  nor  their 
successors  believed  in  the  rigid  prescription  of  fixed  forms, 
but  insisted  upon  ample  freedom  for  the  use  of  such 
original  prayers  as  occasion  demanded.  The  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  itself,  which  is  the  product  of  every 
Christian  age  and  Christian  people,  including  Reformers, 
Presbyterians,  Puritans  and  Lutherans,  as  well  as  Roman- 
ists and  Anglicans,  and  which  is  used  constantly  by  the 
Episcopal  churches  throughout  the  English-speaking 
world,  owes  no  little  to  the  influence  of  men  of  our  faith 
and  polity,  and  especially  to  that  of  the  illustrious  Genevan 
reformer,  John  Calvin.  The  General  Thanksgiving,  called 
"the  chiefest  treasure  of  the  Prayer-Book,"  is  said  to 
have  been  composed  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Reynolds, 
a  distinguished  Presbyterian  member  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly  of  Divines,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Norwich. 
These  prayers,  as  well  as  other  parts  of  the  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer,  are  constantly  used,  in  whole  or  in  part,  by 
many  Presbyterian  ministers  when  leading  the  public 
devotions  of  their  people,  and  the  more  such  models  of 
prayer  are  studied  by  Presbyterian  ministers  in  general 


THOUGHTS. FOR  HIGH  CHURCHMEN.    187 

the  sooner  will  they  cease  to  deserve  the  reproach  that 
their  manner  of  conducting  this  important  part  of  public 
worship  is  sometimes  rambling,  slovenly  and  unedifying. 
No  minister  of  our  time  of  any  denomination  was  more 
acceptable  and  helpful  in  the  conduct  of  this  part  of  the 
service  than  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Moses  D.  Hoge,  of  Rich- 
mond. His  prayers  were  characterized  in  a  preeminent 
degree  by  good  taste  and  propriety  of  expression,  as  well 
as  by  unction.  He  was  a  diligent  student  of  the  best  litur- 
gies, such  as  those  of  Calvin,  Knox  and  Cranmer.  His 
biographer,  speaking  of  "the  elaborate  and  laborious 
preparation  that  he  made  for  this  service,  as  evinced  by 
his  papers,"  says :  "Dr.  Hoge's  peculiar  power  in  prayer 
was  not  merely  the  result  of  what  is  called  the  'gift  of 
prayer.'  Not  only  his  celebrated  prayers  on  great  public 
occasions  were  carefully  written  out,  but  from  his  early 
ministry  he  wrote  prayers  for  every  variety  of  occasion 
and  service,  and  formulated  petitions  on  every  variety  of 
topic." 

When  we  visited  Canterbury  Cathedral,  the 

The  Huguenot  .      .     ,        •  , , 

Presbyterians   other  day,  we  were  reminded  of  another 
in  canterbury  striking  proof  of  the  liberty  of  Presbyterian 

Cathedral.  P      .  .  ,_,          ,  .         r 

usage  in  this  matter.  The  place  is,  of  course, 
one  that  brings  to  mind  innumerable  events  of  interest, 
ranging  all  the  way  from  the  tragedy  of  Thomas  a 
Becket's  death  to  the  comedy  of  the  struggle  that  took 
place  in  St.  Catherine's  Chapel,  Westminster,  in  1176, 
between  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York,  a 
scuffle  which  led  to  the  question  of  their  precedence  being 
decided  by  a  papal  edict,  giving  to  one  the  title  of  Primate 
of  all  England,  to  the  other  that  of  Primate  of  England. 
One  cannot  help  thinking,  in  connection  with  it,  of  the 
official  titles  of  the  two  great  Presbyterian  bodies  in  our 
country,  the  technical  title  of  the  Northern  Church  being 


188  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
and  the  technical  title  of  the  Southern  Church  being  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States.  Fuller's 
Church  History  gives  a  racy  account  of  the  scene  referred 
to :  "A  synod  was  called  at  Westminster,  the  Pope's  legate 
being  present  thereat ;  on  whose  right  hand  sat  Richard, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as  in  his  proper  place.  When 
in  springs  Roger  of  York,  and  finding  Canterbury  so 
seated,  fairly  sits  him  down  on  Canterbury's  lap  (a  baby 
too  big  to  be  danced  thereon)  ;  yea,  Canterbury's  servants 
dandled  this  lap-child  with  a  witness,  who  plucked  him 
thence,  and  buffeted  him  to  purpose."  But  far  more  inter- 
esting to  us  than  the  story  of  this  undignified  behavior 
on  the  part  of  these  two  dignitaries,  and  even  more  inter- 
esting than  the  thrilling  story  of  Becket's  murder,  was 
the  chapel  in  the  crypt,  where  for  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years  the  Huguenots,  who  were  welcomed  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  and  given  the  use  of  this  part  of  the  cathedral, 
have  continued  to  use  the  ancient  Presbyterian  forms  of 
worship  which  they  brought  with  them  when  driven  from 
France  by  Roman  Catholic  persecution.  And  it  is  a  very 
interesting  fact  that  the  liturgy  (in  French)  which  they 
use  is  almost  the  same  as  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
but  immensely  significant  that  the  congregation  continues 
to  observe  the  Lord's  Supper  seated,  after  the  Presby- 
terian form.  The  communion  plates  and  cups,  which  we 
had  the  pleasure  of  taking  up  in  our  hands,  were  brought 
by  the  refugees  to  England  three  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago,  but  are  still  in  use. 

From  what  has  now  been  said,  it  is  clear  that 

The  Concomi- 
tants and  the      it  is  not  altogether  the  use  of  the  Prayer- 
intonine.  B(X)k  which  g;ves  to  the  American  Pro- 

testant worshipping  in  an  Anglican  church  that  curious 
feeling  of  strangeness  and  formalism.  It  is  rather  the 


THOUGHTS  FOR  HIGH  CHURCHMEN.     189 

Romish-looking  arrangements  about  the  "altar,"  the 
crosses  and  candles  and  cloths,  the  vestments  and  proces- 
sions, the  turning  of  the  people  towards  the  east  when 
they  pray,  the  "vain  repetitions"  of  certain  parts  of  the 
liturgy,  such-as  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  sometimes  occurs 
four  or  five  times  in  one  service,  and  the  "intoning"  of  the 
service,  that  is,  the  literally  monotonous  recitation  of  the 
prayers,  without  any  rising  or  falling  inflection,  every 
word  being  uttered  in  precisely  the  same  tone,  without  the 
slightest  variation.  I  do  not  mean  that  all  these  features 
always  occur  in  every  service.  Sometimes  one  or  more  of 
them  will  be  omitted,  such  as  turning  to  the  east  in  prayer, 
or  intoning.  For  instance,  Canon  Hensley  Henson,  whom 
we  heard  a  short  time  ago  at  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster, 
where  the  late  Canon  Farrar  preached  so  long  and  so  bril- 
liantly, and  who,  though  quite  radical  in  some  of  his  views, 
is  the  most  thoughtful  preacher  among  the  ministers  of  the 
Anglican  Church  in  London  at  the  present  time,  did  not 
intone  the  prayers  which  he  offered,  though  his  assistant 
did.  I  do  not  know  whether  Canon  Henson's  usage  is 
from  necessity  or  choice — whether  it  is  because  he  cannot 
intone  or  because  he  does  not  care  to  do  so,  preferring  to 
address  the  Almighty  in  the  same  natural  and  expressive 
tones  which  he  uses  in  communications  with  his  fellow- 
men. 

„     ,         Canon  Henson  does  not  look  the  least  like 

Canon  Hensley 

Henson  at         the  typical  Englishman.    His  appearance  is 

St.  Margaret's.      antipodal    to    that    Qf   the    beefy>    ft^    fujl. 

blooded  John  Bull.  He  is  slender,  clean-shaven,  boyish, 
white,  his  face  "sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of 
thought."  His  body  may  be  delicate,  but  there  is  no  lack 
of  vigor  about  his  mind.  The  strength  and  charm  of  his 
preaching,  due  chiefly  to  the  freshness  of  the  thought 
and  the  purity  and  clearness  of  the  language  —  for  he  has 


190  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

no  marked  advantages  of  presence  or  voice  or  manner  — 
draw  great  crowds  to  St.  Margaret's.  We  had  to  wait 
at  the  door  for  some  time  to  let  the  pewholders  have  a 
chance,  but  when  the  word  was  given  the  crowd  at  the 
door  poured  in  and  quickly  overflowed  all  the  vacant 
seating  space.  Shortly  after  he  began  his  sermon,  which 
was  read  throughout,  three  ladies  rose  to  leave  the  church, 
and  I  was  not  a  little  astonished  to  hear  him  stop  and 
say,  with  what  I  thought  was  a  touch  of  irritation,  "I 
will  wait  till  those  ladies  get  out."  No  doubt  it  is  vexa- 
tious to  have  people  leave  the  church  during  the  sermon, 
but  no  minister  has  a  right  to  pillory  anybody  in  that 
fashion,  unless  it  is  somebody  who  is  known  to  be  in  the 
habit  of  interrupting  the  service  in  that  way.  The  min- 
ister has  no  right  to  assume  that  people  are  doing  a  de- 
liberately discourteous  or  culpably  thoughtless  thing.  The 
probability  is  that  one  of  the  ladies  in  the  group  referred 
to  was  sick  or  faint  and  had  to  withdraw.  This  kind  of 
rudeness  may  be  naturally  expected  from  some  of  the  men 
who  in  our  country  have  done  so  much  to  degrade  the 
fine  name  of  "Evangelist,"  but  surely  one  does  not  expect 
it  from  a  gentleman  like  Canon  Henson. 

While  bound  to  criticise  Canon  Henson  for 

Canon  Henson 

on  Anglican  this  breach  of  good  manners,  I  hasten  to 
Narrowness.  express  mv  cordial  admiration  of  his  cour- 
tesy, courage,  and  Christliness  in  general,  and  especially 
of  the  power  of  his  statement  of  the  claims  of  Christian 
love  against  the  Anglican  custom  of  refusing  to  commune 
with  Nonconformists.  The  most  remarkable  sermon 
preached  by  any  clergyman  of  the  Established  Church 
during  our  sojourn  in  England  was  a  sermon  preached 
by  him  before  the  University  of  Cambridge  on  the  text, 
"There  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  Shepherd,"  in  which 
he  advocated  the  admission  of  Nonconformists  to  the 
sacrament.  Hear  him: 


THOUGHTS  FOR  HIGH  CHURCHMEN.     191 

"The  primary  need  of  the  hour  is  more  religious  hon- 
esty. In  the  classic  phrase  of  Dr.  Johnson,  Churchmen 
beyond  all  others  need  'to  clear  their  minds  of  cant.'  'Let 
love  be  without  hypocrisy'  is  the  kindred  protest  of  St. 
Paul.  Bear  with  me  while  I  bring  these  considerations 
to  a  very  simple,  indeed  an  obvious  application.  On  all 
hands  there  is  talk  of  Christian  unity.  Not  a  Conference 
or  a  Congress  of  Churchmen  meets  without  effusive  wel- 
come from  Nonconformists.  A  few  weeks  ago  I  sat  in 
the  Congress  Hall  at  Brighton  and  listened  to  a  series 
of  speeches  by  prominent  Nonconformists,  all  expressing 
the  warmest  sentiments  of  Christian  fraternity.  I  re- 
flected that  by  the  existing  law  and  current  practice  of 
our  church  all  those  excellent  orators  and  their  fellow- 
believers  were  spiritual  outcasts ;  that,  if  they  presented 
themselves  for  the  Sacrament  of  Unity,  they  would  be 
decisively  rejected;  that,  in  no  consecrated  building, 
might  their  voices  be  heard  from  the  pulpit,  though  all 
men  —  as  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Dale,  of  Birmingham  — 
owned  their  conspicuous  power  and  goodness.  The  con- 
tradiction came  home  to  my  conscience  as  an  intolerable 
outrage,  and  I  determined  to  say  here  to-day  in  this 
famous  pulpit,  to  which  your  kindness  has  bidden  me, 
what  I  had  long  been  thinking,  that  the  time  has  come 
for  Churchmen  to  remove  barriers  for  which  they  can  no 
longer  plead  political  utility,  and  which  have  behind  them 
no  sanctions  in  the  best  conscience  and  worthiest  reason 
of  our  time.  I  remembered  that  in  my  study,  at  work 
in  preparation  of  the  sermons  which  expressed  my  obli- 
gation as  a  Christian  teacher,  I  drew  no  invidious  dis- 
tinctions. Baxter  and  Jeremy  Taylor,  Dale  and  Gore, 
Ramsay  and  Lightfoot,  Dollinger  and  Hort,  George  Adam 
Smith  and  Driver,  Ritschl  and  Moberley,  Fairbairn  and 
Westcott,  Bruce  and  Sanday,  Liddon  and  Lacordaire, 


192  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

these  and  many  others  of  all  Christian  churches  united 
without  difficulty  in  the  fellowship  of  sacred  science;  it 
was  not  otherwise  in  my  devotions.  Roman  Catholic, 
Lutheran,  Anglican,  Nonconformist  were  reconciled 
easily  enough  in  the  privacy  of  prayer  and  meditation. 
The  two  persons  whom  I  venerated  as  the  best  Christians 
I  knew,  and  to  whom  spiritually  I  owed  most,  were  not 
Anglicans.  Only  in  the  sanctuary  itself  was  the  hideous 
discovery  vouchsafed  that  they  were  outcasts  from  my 
fellowship.  I  might  feed  my  mind  with  their  wisdom,  and 
kindle  my  devotion  with  their  piety,  and  stir  my  con- 
science with  their  example,  but  I  might  not  break  bread 
with  them  at  the  table  of  our  common  Lord,  nor  bear 
their  presence  as  teachers  in  the  churches  dedicated  to 
his  worship.  It  seemed  to  me  that  the  love  so  lavishly 
expressed  in  that  Congress  Hall  must,  at  least  on  our 
side,  be  a  strangely  hollow  thing.  It  is  true  that  the 
presiding  bishop  reminded  the  Nonconformists  that  there 
were  doctrinal  differences  which  could  not  be  forgotten 
or  minimized,  but  this  obstacle  was  effectively  demolished 
by  the  debates  of  the  Congress  —  debates  which  revealed 
the  widest  possible  doctrinal  divergence  between  men 
who,  none  the  less,  communicated  at  the  same  altars  and 
owned  allegiance  to  the  same  church." 
,,^  „  Such  a  discourse  from  such  a  man  in  such 

What  Canon 

Henson  could  a  place  naturally  created  a  sensation  in 
seeinvireinia.  England  It  would  not  have  done  so,  as  to 
its  main  point,  in  Virginia.  Why  ?  Well,  the  fundamental 
reason  is  that  the  average  Virginia  Episcopalian  repre- 
sents a  much  higher  type  of  Christianity  than  the  average 
English  churchman,  broader,  sweeter,  truer.  Indeed,  if 
there  are  in  any  church  anywhere  people  of  lovelier  char- 
acter, truer  charity,  and  more  genuine  devotion  to  our 


THOUGHTS  FOR  HIGH  CHURCHMEN.     193 

Lord  than  the  evangelical  Episcopalians  of  Virginia,  many 
of  whom  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  know  long  and 
intimately,  I  have  never  heard  of  them.  I  only  wish  the 
type  was  more  common  in  some  other  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. Now,  the  things  so  trenchantly  stated  by  Canon 
Henson  in  the  foregoing  excerpt  are  mere  matters  of 
course  to  the  mind  of  your  evangelical  Low  Churchman 
in  Virginia.  To  him  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  break 
bread  with  Christians  of  other  denominations  at  the  table 
of  our  common  Lord  or  to  hear  the  gospel  preached  by 
ministers  of  other  churches  from  the  pulpits  of  his  own. 
I  have  heard  it  said  that  this  fraternal  attitude  is  depre- 
cated by  some  of  the  younger  clergy  in  Virginia  of  late, 
and  that  through  their  opposition  this  open  recognition 
of  other  Christian  people  and  their  ministers  is  less  com- 
mon than  it  used  to  be.  I  should  be  sorry  to  believe  it, 
and  I  know  some  facts  which  seem  to  disprove  it.  Four 
or  five  years  ago  I  myself  was  invited  to  deliver  the 
Reinicke  Lecture  to  the  students  of  the  Episcopal  Semi- 
nary at  Alexandria,  Va.,  and  did  so  with  a  feeling  of  as 
cordial  welcome  as  I  had  ever  received  anywhere  in  my 
whole  life.  I  have  been  repeatedly  invited  to  preach  in 
Episcopal  pulpits.  When  the  General  Assembly  of  our 
church  meets  in  Lexington,  Va.,  next  May,  you  may  rely 
upon  it  Presbyterian  ministers  will  be  invited  by  the  rector 
of  the  Episcopal  church  there  to  supply  his  pulpit  on 
Sunday,  just  as  they  are  by  the  pastors  of  the  other 
churches.  More  than  that,  I  have  a  friend  in  the  Pres- 
byterian ministry,  now  a  pastor  in  Baltimore,  who  not 
long  ago,  by  invitation  of  the  vestry  of  an  Episcopal 
church  in  a  Virginia  town,  not  only  occupied  the  pulpit 
and  preached,  but  also  wore  the  surplice  and  administered 
the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 


194  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

It  may  be  true  that  there  is  a  reaction  going 

Are  Virginia  '         ....... 

Episcopalians     on  even  in  Virginia  against  this  spirit  of 
Becoming          Christian  fellowship,  and  that  things  of  this 

Less  Liberal?          . 

kind  are  less  frequent  than  formerly;  but, 
if  so,  I  am  satisfied  that  it  is  a  reaction  with  which  the 
Virginia  laymen  have  nothing  to  do,  and  which  they  will 
oppose  as  soon  as  they  become  aware  of  it,1  and  I  am 
sure,  too,  that  clergymen  will  not  be  lacking  who  will 
make  a  strong  stand  against  it. 

One  or  two  other  facts  which  may  well  be 
pondered  by  High  Churchmen  have  been 

Attendance  * 

in  the  Anglican  brought  to  light  by  the  census  of  church 
churches  in       attendance  in  London,  recently  taken  by  the 

London.  J 

Daily  News  of  that  city.  The  census  shows 
that,  while  more  than  one-half  of  the  five  millions  of 
people  in  London  are  Christian  worshippers,  there  has 
been  a  decrease  in  church  attendance  of  over  one  hun- 

1  December,  1903. — It  was  an  immense  satisfaction  to  me  to 
learn,  on  my  return  to  America,  that  in  the  matter  of  the  pro- 
posed change  in  the  name  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
the  laity  had  saved  the  day  and  decisively  defeated  the  clerical 
delegates  who  represented  the  pro-Catholic  sentiment,  and  wished 
to  call  their  denomination  the  American  Catholic  Church,  and 
thus  make  it  appear  that  there  was  closer  sympathy  between 
Episcopacy  and  Romanism  than  between  Episcopacy  and  Pro- 
testantism. In  one  diocese  in  particular,  in  which  I  have  always 
felt  a  peculiar  interest  although  the  Bishop  in  his  opening  address 
made  a  strong  plea  for  the  change,  and  although  he  carried  the 
clergy  with  him,  he  and  they  were  overwhelmingly  defeated  by 
the  lay  delegates.  Would  it  not  be  a  singular  situation  if  the 
clergy,  the  official  leaders  of  the  people  in  spiritual  things,  should 
come  to  stand  as  a  class  for  all  that  is  reactionary  or  bigoted 
or  trivial,  while  the  people  themselves  represented  the  real  spirit 
of  Christ?  There  may  be  such  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the 
clergy  in  other  dioceses,  but  I  can  hardly  believe  that  it  is  true 
of  those  in  Virginia, 


THOUGHTS  FOR  HIGH  CHURCHMEN.     195 

dred  thousand  since  1886,  that  this  decrease  has  been 
almost  entirely  in  the  congregations  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  that  the  attendance  in  the  Established  and 
Nonconformist  churches  is  now  about  equal. 

The  census  shows  further  that  in  wealthy  districts 
the  Established  Church,  as  we  might  expect,  has  the  ma- 
jority. As  was  also  expected,  Nonconformists  have  a 
majority  in  middle-class  districts.  But,  contrary  to  all 
expectations,  Nonconformists  are  a  majority  in  the  work- 
ing-class districts  and  among  the  very  poor.  Tt  was  often 
said  that  only  the  ritualists  were  getting  hold  of  the  poor, 
and  many  supposed  the  Salvation  Army  was  doing  great 
things  amongst  the  lowest  people.  It  is  one  of  the  sur- 
prises of  the  census  that  ritualism  fails  to  attract  the  non- 
church-going  classes. 

In  the  proportion  of  the  sexes  present,  in  almost  all 
cases  the  Episcopal  churches  showed  two  women  to  one 
man ;  in  nonconformist  churches  the  proportion  of  men 
was  greater,  being  two  men  to  three  women.  Does  not 
this  preponderance  of  men  in  the  nonconformist  congre- 
gations indicate  clearly  that  if  the  Church  of  England 
is  to  retain  her  hold  upon  men  she  must  lay  less  stress 
upon  the  appeal  to  the  aesthetic  sensibilities  and  more 
upon  the  appeal  to  the  mind;  that  she  must  make  less 
of  the  ornamental  features  of  public  worship  and  more 
of  the  didactic;  less  of  millinery,  music  and  marching, 
and  more  of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  ?  As  the  British 
Weekly  puts  it : 

"The  great  means  of  attracting  the  people  is  Christian 
preaching.  Whenever  a  preacher  appears,  no  matter  what 
his  denomination  is,  he  has  a  great  audience.  Nothing 
makes  up  for  a  failure  in  preaching.  The  churches  of  all 
denominations,  if  they  are  wise,  will  give  themselves  with 
increased  zeal  and  devotion  to  the  training  of  the  Christian 


196  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

ministry.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  for  lack  of  a  trained 
order  of  preachers  that  the  Salvation  Army  has  failed 
in  London.  Nor  will  any  magnificence  of  ritual  or  any. 
musical  attractions,  or  any  lectures  on  secular  subjects, 
permanently  attract  worshippers.  It  can  be  done  only  by 
Christian  preaching." 

In   this   connection   the   following  clipping 
of from  The  Evangelist  is  not  without  interest, 
Presbyterian      as  showing  that  both  the  disease  and  the 
remedy  are  at  least  partially  recognized  by 
some  observers  within  the  English  Church : 

"A  recent  writer  in  The  Guardian,  one  of  the  leading 
Church  of  England  papers,  laments  the  decay  of  preach- 
ing within  his  own  communion,  and  is  forced  to  contrast 
the  conditions  obtaining  in  Presbyterian  churches  with 
those  which  prevail  in  Episcopalian  ones,  to  the  obvious 
disadvantage  of  the  latter.  While  it  is  true  that  the 
Church  of  England  has  some  great  preachers,  as  it  always 
has  had,  the  ordinary  village  vicar  is  scarcely  mediocre 
Such  is  not  the  case  among  the  Presbyterians  —  in  Scot- 
land, with  which  the  writer  is  familiar  —  or  in  America, 
Canada,  Australia,  or  in  missionary  lands,  where  the  same 
standards  and  ideals  are  in  effect.  Here  are  the  charac- 
teristics of  Presbyterian  preaching  as  described  by  a 
Church  of  England  critic: 

"  'Their  ministry  lays  itself  out  for  the  cultivation  of 
prophetical  power,  and  not  without  success.  In  general, 
•they  are  students  of  Hebrew,  which  the  English  clergy 
are  not.  The  consequence  is  that  for  a  good  Old  Testa- 
ment sermon  you  must  go  north  of  the  Tweed.  In  Eng- 
land we  confine  ourselves  almost  exclusively  to  the  New 
Testament,  not  merely  because  of  its  transcendent  im- 
portance, but  because  it  is  ground  with  which  we  are  more 
familiar.  But  the  loss  to  our  people  is  great. 


THOUGHTS  FOR  HIGH  CHURCHMEN.     197 

'  Then,  again,  the  Scottish  ministers  are  students  of 
German  theology.  More  or  less  they  are  at  home  in  the 
writings  of  the  great  German  thinkers,  both  orthodox  and 
liberal.  We,  as  a  rule,  are  not.  .  .  . 

"  'One  more  point.  In  travelling  through  Palestine 
some  years  ago,  with  a  view  to  the  study  of  biblical 
geography,  I  was  greatly  struck  with  the  preponderance 
of  Scottish  ministers  who  were  there  on  the  same  purpose 
intent.  I  think  it  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  they  were 
in  numbers  to  the  English  clergy  as  five  to  one.  Evidently 
they  regard  it  as  a  necessary  part  of  that  same  biblical 
equipment  they  are  so  careful  about,  that  they  should  with 
their  own  eyes  realize  the  scenes  of  the  sacred  narrative. 
A  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land  is  now  so  easy,  and  is, 
moreover,  to  any  thoughtful  Christian  teacher  so  fruitful 
in  results,  that  it  is  a  marvel  it  should  not  be  made  an 
ordinary  addition  to  a  university  or  theological  college 
course.  To  any  one  who  will  go  with  a  reverent  mind 
and  open  eyes,  and  with  his  Bible  as  his  Baedeker,  it  is 
an  unparalleled  experience  for  life.  If  it  is  objected  to 
on  the  score  of  expense,  I  ask,  How  do  the  Presbyterian 
ministers,  and  a  large  proportion  of  Nonconformist  min- 
isters also,  manage  to  accomplish  it?'" 

The  Guardian  itself,  in  an  editorial  comment  on  the 
decreasing  attendance  of  men  in  the  Anglican  churches, 
says  frankly  that  a  large  number  of  men  are  "repelled 
by  the  extremely  low  standard  of  preaching  which  pre- 
vails, and  the  comparative  success  of  Nonconformity  may 
be  due  in  part  to  the  attention  which  is  devoted  to  the 
preparation  of  the  sermon."  "Another  source  of  offence 
is  the  over-elaboration  of  musical  services,  and  the  prac- 
tical exclusion  of  the  congregation  from  any  real  share 
in  prayer  and  praise.  It  is  a  fatal  policy  which  drives 
the  devout  but  unmusical  away  from  our  churches  to 


198  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

chapels  in  which  they  can  find  greater  simplicity  and 
greater  heartiness.  One  of  the  surprises  of  the  census 
has  been  that  the  Nonconformists  have  been  found  to  be 
strong  not  only  in  middle-class  districts,  but  in  the  regions 
where  poverty  abounds.  The  poor,  we  believe,  are  at- 
tracted by  greater  simplicity,  and  it  must  be  acknow- 
ledged that  the  services  of  our  Prayer-Book  are  difficult 
for  the  uninstructed  to  follow  and  to  appreciate.  There 
is  a  stage  at  which  a  greater  elasticity  of  worship  is 
needed,  and  for  this  we  make  no  adequate  provision." 

According  to  the  latest  statistics,  the  relative  strength 
of  the  Established  Church  and  the  free  evangelical 
churches  is  as  follows : 

Sittings.  Communicants. 

Established  (estimated), 7,127,834         2,050,718 

Free, 8,171,666         2,010,530 

S.  S.  Teachers.     S.  S.  Scholars. 

Established, 206,203          2,919,413 

Free, 391,690         3,389,848 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 
PARIS  AND  MEMORIES  OF  THE  HUGUENOTS. 

THE  HAGUE,  October  21,  1902. 

THE  English  Channel  is  one  of  the  oldest  ferries  in 
the  world.  For  two  thousand  years  and  more,  men 
have  been  crossing  it  in  all  sorts  of  craft,  but  they  have 
never  yet  found  a  way  to  do  it  comfortably  when  the 
water  is  rough,  as  it  generally  is.  Our  experience  made 
us  doubt  whether  the  modern  steamers  that  ply  between 
New  Haven  and  Dieppe  are  a  whit  more  comfortable  than 
the  galleys  of  Julius  Caesar.  Our  boat  was  mercilessly 
buffeted  by  the  winds.  She  rolled  and  plunged  in  every 
direction.  It  seemed  to  us  that  her  propeller  was  out  of 
the  water  half  the  time.  If  seasickness  really  is  good 
for  people,  this  Channel  should  be  called  a  health  resort. 
All  the  members  of  our  party  were  violently  sick  except 
myself.  We  felt  sure  we  had  discovered  one  of  the 
reasons  why  the  shore  to  which  we  looked  so  wistfully 
is  called  "the  pleasant  land  of  France."  Any  land  would 
seem  pleasant  after  that  dreadful  Channel.  At  last  we 
reached  it,  pale  and  wretched.  As  we  entered  the  mouth 
of  the  river  at  Dieppe  the  huge  crucifix  overhanging  the 
harbor  reminded  us  that  we  were  now  in  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic country.  And  a  "pleasant  land"  it  is  in  many  respects. 
Our  railroad  journey  to  Paris  through  the  fair  and  fertile 
Valley  of  the  Seine  made  that  quite  evident. 

We  secured  quiet  and  comfortable  quarters 
:heBECauetry  of       close  to  the  lovely  Madeleine  Church  and 
the  French      oniy  two  blocks  from  the  Place  de  la  Con- 
corde, the  finest  square  in  Europe,  with  the 


200  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Seine  on  one  side,  the  Tuileries  Gardens  on  another,  the 
Champs  Elysees  leading  from  it  in  one  direction,  and 
the  Rue  de  Rivoli  in  the  other.  London,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  a  dingy  congeries  of  dingy  towns  built  mostly 
of  dingy  bricks.  Paris  is  sunny  and  bright,  the  streets 
are  wide  and  clean,  and  the  houses  are  uniformly  hand- 
some, being  built  of  a  light  stone  that  gives  the  whole 
city  an  air  of  elegance.  No  doubt  it  is  the  most  beautiful 
city  in  the  world,  it  has  a  glitter  and  sparkle  unmatched 
elsewhere,  —  but,  gay  as  it  seems,  it  has  more  suicides 
than  any  other  city. 

what  we  did  ^e  submitted  to  it,  but  could  not  enjoy 
not  like  the  French  custom  of  taking  our  morning 
about  Paris.  rQjjs  an(j  co^ee  jn  ^ed.  There  are  many 

other  French  customs  constantly  in  evidence  in  Paris, 
but  not  to  be  described  here,  to  which  I  trust  our  English 
and  American  people  will  never  become  accustomed. 
Modesty  is  not  prominent  among  the  virtues  of  the 
French,  though  of  course  there  must  be  many  good  people 
among  them.  Vice  flaunts  itself  more  in  Paris  than  in 
any  city  I  have  ever  seen.  There  is  a  certain  brazen 
shamelessness  even  in  French  art  that  one  does  not  see 
in  New  York  or  London.  But  the  collection  in  the  Louvre 
is  one  of  the  richest  aggregations  of  antiquarian  and 
artistic  objects  in  the  world,  and  surely  no  museum  was 
ever  so  splendidly  housed.  The  Moabite  Stone,  the  oldest 
extant  Hebrew  inscription,  was  one  of  the  things  that  we 
made  a  point  of  seeing.  As  we  passed  to  another  part  of 
the  great  building,  we  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the  cele- 
brated DeWet  and  the  other  Boer  generals  who  were 
visiting  Paris  at  that  time. 

In  the  rear  of  the  Louvre  stands  the  church  of  St. 
Germain  1'Auxerrois.  It  was  from  the  bell-tower  of  this 
church  that  the  signal  was  given  for  the  Massacre  of 


PARIS  AND  THE  HUGUENOTS.          201 

St.  Bartholomew.  On  the  other  side  of  the  Rue  de  Rivoli, 
and  in  plain  view  of  this  fateful  tower,  stands  the  pure 
white  marble  statue  of  Admiral  Coligni,  the  most  illus- 
trious victim  of  that  fearful  massacre.  What  France 
needs  to-day  is  the  influence  of  that  Huguenot  element 
which  she  slaughtered  and  expelled  at  that  time. 

Several  names  which  are  now  amoner  the 

The  Huguenot  .„  .  .  . 

Name  and  the    most  illustrious  in  the  history  of  the  world 
Huguenot          were    originally    used    as    terms    of    re- 

Character. 

proach.  When  Abram  left  his  home  in 
Chaldea  and  crossed  the  great  boundary  stream  between 
the  East  and  the  West  and  settled  in  Palestine,  the  Ca- 
naanites  dubbed  him  "the  Hebrew,"  that  is,  the  man  who 
crossed  over  the  Euphrates  —  intruder,  interloper.  But 
for  ages  "Hebrew"  has  been  the  honored  designation  of 
one  of  the  most  gifted  and  enterprising  of  the  races  of 
mankind.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  name  "Christian" 
was  first  applied  in  a  contemptuous  sense  to  the  disciples 
of  our  Lord  at  Antioch.  It  is  well  known  that  the  name 
of  "Methodist,"  which  's  now  the  honored  designation 
of  a  large,  active  and  devoted  body  of  the  people  of  God, 
was  at  first  given  to  the  followers  of  Wesley  in  a  spirit 
of  ridicule  and  derision.  In  like  manner,  the  name 
"Huguenot,"  according  to  its  most  probable  derivation 
from  a  French  word  meaning  a  kind  of  hobgoblin  of 
darkness,  a  night-wanderer,  was  given  to  the  Protestants 
of  that  country,  because  there  were  times  in  their  early 
history  when,  for  fear  of  persecution,  they  dared  not  meet 
except  under  cover  of  darkness.  But  this  term  of  re- 
proach has  gathered  about  itself  all  the  glory  that  belongs 
to  genius  and  skill  in  the  useful  arts,  to  industry,  thrift 
and  purity  in  the  home,  to  patriotic  valor  on  the  field 
of  battle,  and  to  unpurchasable  and  unconquerable  devo- 
tion to  principle,  and  is  now  a  name  that  is  venerated  by 
14 


202  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

every  clear-headed  and  sound-hearted  and  well-informed 
and  unprejudiced  person  in  the  world.  It  is  a  name  which 
will  wear  forever  the  red  halo  of  martyrdom.  By  the 
Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  alone  thirty-five  thousand 
names  were  added  to  the  church's  crimson  roll  of  martyrs, 
with  that  of  the  great  Admiral  Coligni  leading  the  list. 
By  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  the  refusal 
of  Louis  XIV.  to  tolerate  any  exercise  of  the  Protestant 
religion  in  France,  while  at  the  same  time  punishing 
inexorably  all  who  attempted  to  escape  from  France, 
nearly  half  a  million  Huguenots  were  driven  into  exile, 
sacrificing  their  homes,  their  property  and  their  country 
rather  than  renounce  their  religion;  and  Sismondi  esti- 
mates that  some  four  hundred  thousand  others  perished 
in  prison,  on  the  scaffold,  at  the  galleys,  and  in  their 
attempts  to  escape. 

Paiissy.the          On  our   visit   to  the   celebrated   Porcelain 
Potter.  Works  at  Sevres,  a  few  miles  below  Paris 

on  the  Seine,  our  interest  centered  less  in  any  of  the 
works  of  art  shown  inside  than  in  the  fine  bronze  figure 
in  front  of  the  building  which  represents  Bernard  Palissy, 
natural  philosopher,  chemist,  geologist,  artist,  political 
economist,  Christian  hero  and  author,  of  whom  Lamar- 
tine  himself  said,  "This  potter  was  one  of  the  greatest 
writers  of  the  French  tongue.  Montaigne  does  not  excel 
him  in  freedom,  Rousseau  in  vigor,  La  Fontaine  in  grace. 
Bossuet  in  lyric  energy."  He  was  the  inventor  of  en- 
amelled pottery.  For  fifteen  years  he  pursued  his  search 
for  the  secret  of  his  art,  scorned  as  a  visionary,  suspected 
of  being  a  counterfeiter,  reproached  by  his  wife  for  the 
scanty  living  he  provided  for  his  family,  sitting  by  his 
fire  for  six  successive  days  and  nights  without  changing 
his  clothes,  and,  in  his  last  desperate  experiment,  when 


PARIS  AND  THE  HUGUENOTS.          203 

fuel  began  to  run  short  and  still  the  enamel  did  not  melt, 
rushing  into  the  house,  breaking  up  his  furniture  and 
hurling  that  into  the  furnace  to  keep  up  the  heat  —  his 
long  and  furious  search  being  rewarded  at  last  by  the 
appearance  of  the  beautiful  white  glaze  which  has  made 
him  famous.  His  transcendant  merits  as  an  artist  were 
then  fully  recognized,  and  the  Duke  of  Montmorency  and 
Catherine  de  Medici  became  his  patrons,  the  latter  ap- 
pointing him  to  decorate  the  gardens  of  the  palace  of  the 
Tuileries.  But  in  the  meantime  he  had  founded  the  Re- 
formed Church  at  Saintes,  and  had  revolutionized  the 
morals  of  the  community.  He  was  seized,  dragged  from 
his  home,  and  hurried  off  by  night  to  be  punished  as  a 
heretic.  And  the  most  brilliant  genius  of  France  would 
certainly  have  been  burnt,  as  hundreds  of  others  were, 
but  for  the  accidental  circumstance  that  the  Duke  of 
Montmorency  was  in  urgent  need  of  enamelled  tiles  for 
his  castle  floor,  and  Palissy  was  the  only  man  in  the 
world  capable  of  executing  them. 

Few  scenes  in  history  can  match  that  in  the  Bastile 
when  this  aged  and  gifted  man  lay  chained  to  the  floor, 
and  Henry  III.,  standing  over  him,  and  referring  to  the 
forty-five  years  of  faithful  and  splendid  service  which 
Palissy  had  rendered,  said,  "I  am  now  compelled  to  leave 
you  to  your  enemies,  and  to-morrow  you  will  be  burnt 
unless  you  become  a  Roman  Catholic."  Then  the  fearless 
answer:  "Sire,  you  have  often  said  you  pity  me.  I  now 
pity  you.  'Compelled!'  It  is  not  spoken  like  a  king. 
These  girls,  my  companions,  and  I,  who  have  a  portion 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  will  teach  you  royal  language. 
/  cannot  be  compelled  to  do  wrong.  Neither  you  nor  the 
Guises  will  know  how  to  compel  a  potter  to  bow  the  knee 
to  images." 


204  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

_.     „          .    French  Protestantism  is  rich  also  in  memo- 
other  Huguenot 

Heroes  and  ries  of  heroic  women.  There  is  the  record, 
for  example,  of  Charlotte  de  Laval,  sitting 
by  her  husband,  Admiral  Coligni,  on  the  balcony  of  their 
castle,  and  asking,  "Husband,  why  do  you  not  openly 
avow  your  faith,  as  your  brother  Andelot  has  done?" 
"Sound  your  own  soul,"  was  his  reply;  "are  you  pre- 
pared to  be  chased  into  exile  with  your  children,  and 
to  see  your  husband  hunted  to  the  death  ?  I  will  give  you 
three  weeks  to  consider,  and  then  I  will  take  your  advice." 
She  looked  at  him  a  moment  through  her  tears,  and  said, 
"Husband,  the  three  weeks  are  ended;  do  your  duty, 
and  leave  us  to  God."  The  world  knows  well  the  sequel. 

Surely  no  right-minded  person  can  refuse  to  honor 
such  sacrifices  for  principle,  such  loyalty  to  conscience, 
such  devotion  to  Christ.  The  Huguenots  could  have 
remained  peaceful  and  prosperous  in  their  own  country 
had  they  but  been  willing  to  conform  to  the  Romish 
religion. 

The  views  I  am  expressing  are  not  determined  merely 
by  my  Protestant  birth  and  training.  In  proof  of  this, 
let  me  quote  to  you  the  words  of  the  Duke  of  Saint  Simon, 
himself  a  Roman  Catholic  and  a  courtier  of  Louis  XIV. : 
"The  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  ...  as  well 
as  the  various  proscriptions  that  followed,  were  the  fruits 
of  that  horrible  conspiracy  which  depopulated  a  fourth 
part  of  the  kingdom,  ruined  its  trade,  weakened  it 
throughout,  surrendered  it  for  so  long  a  time  to  open  and 
avowed  pillage  by  the  dragoons,  and  authorized  the  tor- 
ments and  sufferings  by  means  of  which  they  procured 
the  death  of  so  many  persons  of  both  sexes  and  by  thou- 
sands together.  ...  A  plot  that  caused  our  manu- 
factures to  pass  over  into  the  hands  of  foreigners,  made 
their  states  to  flourish  and  grow  populous  at  the  expense 


PARIS  AND  THE  HUGUENOTS.         205 

of  our  own,  and  enabled  them  to  build  new  cities.  A  plot 
that  presented  to  the  nations  the  spectacle  of  so  vast  a 
multitude  of  people,  who  had  committed  no  crime,  pro- 
scribed, denuded,  fleeing,  wandering,  seeking  an  asylum 
afar  from  their  country.  A  plot  that  consigned  the  noble, 
the  wealthy,  the  aged,  those  highly  esteemed  for  their 
piety,  their  learning,  their  virtue,  those  accustomed  to  a 
life  of  ease,  frail,  delicate,  to  hard  labor  in  the  galleys, 
under  the  driver's  lash,  and  for  no  reason  save  that  of 
their  religion." 

Such  are  the  blistering  words  of  this  eminent  Roman 
Catholic  nobleman  in  regard  to  the  policy  of  the  church 
of  which  he  was  a  member.  If  a  fair-minded  member 
of  that  communion  can  thus  condemn  these  horrible 
iniquities  and  thus  extol  the  persecuted  Huguenots  as  the 
best  people  in  France,  surely  no  Protestant  should  ever 
hesitate  about  recognizing  clearly  the  world's  debt  to  this 
pure  and  heroic  people.  And  no  well-informed  Protestant 
ever  does.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Croly,  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, late  rector  of  St.  Stephens,  in  London,  expresses 
the  opinion  of  all  who  know  the  facts  when  he  says: 
"The  Protestant  Church  of  France  was  for  half  a  cen- 
tury unquestionably  one  of  the  most  illustrious  churches 
in  Europe.  It  held  the  gospel  in  singular  purity.  Its 
preachers  were  apostolic.  Its  people  the  purest,  most 
intellectual  and  most  illustrious  of  France." 

Now  that  is  the  church  which  was  all  but 

France  s Loss 

the  world's  stamped  out  of  existence  by  the  fierce  per- 
secutions of  the  papacy  two  hundred  years 
ago.  And  it  is  the  remnant  of  that  glorious  church  which 
now  calls  on  all  Christians  to  help  it  to  give  once  more 
the  pure  gospel  to  priest-ridden,  infidel  France,  and  to 
deliver  the  nation  from  that  fearful  succession  of  bloody 
revolutions  and  Panama  scandals  and  Dreyfus  outrages 


206  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

and  shameless  immoralities  which  have  so  largely  con- 
stituted the  history  of  that  unhappy  land  since  it  butchered 
and  banished  the  only  class  of  its  people  who  would  have 
effectually  kept  its  conscience  true,  its  morality  pure,  and 
its  institutions  stable  and  sound. 

Do  we  owe  the  Huguenots  anything?  Yes,  the  whole 
world  is  indebted  to  them.  What  France  lost  the  other 
nations  gained.  The  emigration  of  the  Huguenots  gave 
a  death-blow  to  several  great  branches  of  French  industry. 
The  population  of  Nantes  was  reduced  from  eighty  thou- 
sand to  forty  thousand,  a  blow  to  its  prosperity  from 
which  it  has  not  recovered  to  this  day.  Of  twelve  thou- 
sand artisans  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  silk  at  Lyons, 
nine  thousand  went  to  Switzerland.  The  most  skilled 
artisans,  the  wealthiest  merchants,  the  bravest  sailors  and 
soldiers,  the  most  'eminent  scholars  and  scientists  went  by 
thousands  to  Germany,  Holland,  England,  enriching  those 
lands  in  money  and  morals  beyond  computation. 

The  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  is  deeply  in- 
debted to  the  Huguenots.  It  was  Oliver  Cromwell,  "the 
greatest  prince  that  ever  ruled  England,"  who  raised 
Britain  to  her  present  position  of  power  and  gave  her  the 
dominion  of  the  seas.  But  it  was  William  of  Orange 
who  completed  Cromwell's  work  after  the  temporary 
reaction  in  favor  of  Rome  and  the  Stuarts.  It  was  the 
battle  of  the  Boyne  which  finally  decided  that  Great 
Britain  and  America  were  to  be  Protestant  countries  and 
not  Romish.  And  do  you  know  who  it  was  that  won  the 
day  for  William  on  the  banks  of  the  Boyne?  It  was  the 
three  regiments  of  Huguenot  infantry  and  the  squadron 
of  Huguenot  cavalry  hurled  upon  the  Papists  at  the 
critical  moment  by  the  Huguenot,  Marshal  Schomberg. 
That  is  a  part  of  your  debt  to  the  Huguenots  for  the  civil 
and  religious  liberty  which  you  enjoy  to-day. 


PARIS  AND  THE  HUGUENOTS.         207 

In  the  Franco-German  War  of  1870,  many  of  the 
officers  of  the  victorious  army  of  invasion  were  descen- 
dants of  the  Huguenots  whom  Louis  XIV.  expa- 
triated. 


Though  the  mills  of  God  grind  slowly,  yet  they  grind  exceeding 

small ; 
Though  with  patience  he  stands  waiting,  with  exactness  grinds 

he  all." 


The  King  of  England  himself  is  of  Huguenot  blood, 
George  I.  having  married  Dorothea,  granddaughter  of  the 
Marquis  d'Olbreuse,  who  was  one  of  the  Huguenot  refu- 
gees to  Brandenburg  after  the  Revocation.  Time  would 
fail  me  to  tell  of  all  the  scholars,  scientists  and  noblemen 
of  England  who  have  sprung  from  the  same  great  stock, 
such  as  Grote,  the  historian  of  Greece,  Sydney  Smith, 
the  Martineaus,  Garrick  the  actor,  and  a  great  number 
of  gifted  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England. 

Many  of  the  French  churches  established  in  London 
and  other  parts  of  England  by  the  exiles  have  contributed 
for  centuries  to  the  vigorous  religious  life  of  Britain. 
For  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  Presbyterian 
Huguenots  and  the  Episcopal  Englishmen  have  wor- 
shipped in  different  portions  of  Canterbury  Cathedral, 
and  to  this  day  the  Huguenot  Church  at  Canterbury  con- 
tinues to  conduct  its  worship  in  the  cathedral  in  French, 
singing  the  psalms  to  the  old  Huguenot  tunes.  But  for 
the  most  part,  the  exiles  have  become  merged  with  the 
English,  and  their  names  have  been  Anglicised.  In  every 
way  Britain  has  been  enriched  and  blessed  by  the  infusion 
of  Huguenot  blood  and  genius. 

Huguenot  strain   What  America  owes  to  Huguenot  immigra- 

in  America,     tion  yOU  know.    Had  the  Huguenots  given 

us  only  Hugh  Swinton  Legare,  John  Jay,  Francis  Marion, 


208  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

and  Commodore  Maury,  "the  pathfinder  of  the  seas,"  we 
should  have  owed  them  an  everlasting  debt  of  gratitude. 
But  when  we  remember  what  they  have  been  in  Virginia 
itself  —  the  Maurys,  Maryes,  Michauxs,  Flournoys, 
Dupuys,  Fontaines,  Moncures,  Fauntleroys,  Latanes, 
Mauzys,  Lacys,  Venables,  Dabneys,  and  many  others  — 
we  cannot  fail  to  see  that  we  are  under  great  and  lasting 
obligation  to  that  heroic  race,  whose  banishment,  while 
it  resulted  in  the  moral  ruin  of  France,  resulted  in  the 
moral  enrichment  of  America.  And  we  should  count  it  a 
privilege  to  do  what  we  can  to  retrieve  the  religious  ruin 
of  misguided  France  by  giving  her  once  more  the  pure 
Huguenot  gospel.  From  a  statement  published  by  the 
Rev.  J.  E.  Knatz,  B.  D.,  Delegate  of  the  Huguenot 
Churches  of  France  to  America,  I  take  the  following 
facts : 

TheHueuenot  ^e  population  of  France  is  composed  of 
Revival  in  six  hundred  thousand  Protestants  and 
nearly  thirty-nine  million  Catholics.  The 
former  are  mostly  descendants  of  the  Huguenots.  In 
spite  of  centuries  of  persecution,  which  reduced  them 
to  a  mere  handful,  they  have  not  only  kept  their  ground, 
but  made  important  advance.  They  are  the  strongest 
bulwark  of  republican  institutions.  In  the  Dreyfus  trial, 
they  were  foremost  in  forming  a  better  public  opinion, 
fighting  the  hardest  for  the  triumph  of  truth  and  justice. 
Lately  a  Catholic  paper  had  to  admit,  reluctantly,  that 
for  the  last  twenty-five  years  the  war  waged  against 
intemperance,  immorality  and  other  social  evils,  had  been 
the  work  of  the  Protestants. 

Outside  of  France  the  Huguenots  carry  on  a  great 
missionary  work  in  the  French  colonies,  which  are  many 
and  extensive.  The  religious  reorganization  of  Mada- 
gascar alone  cost  them  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 


PARIS  AND  THE  HUGUENOTS.         209 

In  France  they  have  to  care  for  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  an  ever-increasing  number  of  non-Protestant  commu- 
nities. The  movement  toward  Protestantism  is  making 
great  progress  in  the  rural  districts,  the  population  of 
which,  all  Catholics,  had  been  hitherto  indifferent  or 
bigoted.  New  Huguenot  churches  are  springing  up  on 
all  sides,  often  in  places  where  Protestant  worship  had 
been  abolished  for  over  two  hundred  years. 

The  tears  and  blood  our  fathers  shed,  the  torments 
they  suffered  on  scaffolds  and  stakes,  are  bringing  forth 
fruit  after  many  years,  and  "the  harvest  is  truly  plen- 
teous." In  two  departments  of  Central  France  alone, 
forty-five  villages  have,  within  a  single  year,  besought 
our  societies  for  regular  Protestant  services.  To  this 
church  extension  work  alone  the  French  Protestants  con- 
tribute one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
annually. 

Congregations  of  two  hundred  members  (not  one  of 
whom  was  brought  up  in  the  evangelical  faith),  Sunday- 
schools  of  fifty  children  (none  of  whom  a  year  before 
had  ever  heard  of  the  Bible),  are  common  results  of  our 
work. 

Other  missionary  enterprises  have  to  devise  means  of 
attracting  audiences.  With  us  there  is  no  such  difficulty, 
crowds  gather  wherever  we  are  able  to  send  ministers. 

Where  in  the  whole  world  could  be  found  so  promis- 
ing a  mission  field  —  one  ready  to  yield  such  rich  returns  ? 
Where  could  be  found  people  so  eager  to  listen  to  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  to  have  their  children  taught 
its  lessons? 

As  well  as  a  most  promising,  France  is  a  most  im- 
portant mission  field.  The  conversion,  within  the  next 
few  years,  of  some  thousands  of  French  people,  would 
be  of  incalculable  value  to  the  religious  and  moral  welfare 


210  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

of  the  world,  for  France  exerts  a  mighty  influence 
throughout  the  world.  Moreover,  the  outlay  would  be 
comparatively  small. 

There  are  men  willing  to  bring  the  Bread  of  Life  to 
the  hungering  crowds  for  a  mere  pittance,  prompted,  not 
by  any  worldly  motive,  but  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  salary  of  a  minister  is  only  four  hundred  dollars. 
This  amount  will  send  one  more  to  some  of  the  many 
localities  from  which  urgent  appeals  have  come;  it  will 
open  a  new  district  to  the  permanent  influence  of  the 
gospel. 

No  movement  of  such  size  and  promise  has  been  wit- 
nessed in  France  since  the  time  of  the  Reformation.  It 
is  the  old  light,  the  eternal  light  from  above,  dawning 
again  on  France,  illuminating  the  approach  of  a  new  cen- 
tury and  bringing  hope  for  the  future. 

Let  the  Christians  of  America  help  the  Huguenot 
Church  of  France  in  this  great  work  of  hers. 

At  the  American  Church  in  Paris,  whose  pastor,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Thurber,  showed  us  many  courtesies,  we  had 
the  pleasure,  a  few  days  ago,  of  hearing  a  very  striking 
address  by  the  Rev.  Merle  D'Aubigne,  son  of  the  well- 
known  historian  of  the  Reformation,  which  abounded 
with  equally  awakening  facts  as  to  the  present  religious 
condition  of  France. 

Paris  is  not  only  one  of  the  most  brilliant,  but  one 
of  the  most  interesting  cities  in  the  world,  from  almost 
every  point  of  view,  and  we  revelled  in  its  museums  and 
monuments ;  but  its  memories  of  the  Huguenots  had  more 
interest  for  us  than  anything  else,  and  we  have  thought 
it  best  to  devote  our  space  to  that  subject  rather  than  to 
the  Louvre,  the  tomb  of  Napoleon,  Notre  Dame,  Ver- 
sailles, Fontainebleau,  and  the  scores  of  other  fascinating 


PARIS  AND  THE  HUGUENOTS.         211 

places  and  subjects  that  appeal  to  one's  interest  in  this 
ancient,  gay,  and  terrible  city. 

We  had  a  rainy  day  at  Brussels  and  a  cold  one  on  the 
battle-field  of  Waterloo,  but  were  not  deterred  from  see- 
ing them  by  these  conditions  of  the  weather.  Then,  with 
a  comfortable  feeling,  almost  like  the  feeling  one  has  on 
coming  home  after  journeying  in  strange  lands,  we 
crossed  from  Roman  Catholic  France  and  Belgium  into 
Protestant  Holland. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
THE  MAKING  OF  HOLLAND. 

THE  HAGUE,  October  22,  1902. 

HERE  is  an  endless  variety  of  interest  in  the  different 
JL  countries  of  the  Old  World.  Each  has  its  own  fas- 
cination for  travellers.  But,  after  all,  the  strangest, 
quaintest,  cleanest  and  most  picturesque  country  in 
Europe  is  Holland  —  little,  wet,  flat,  energetic,  heroic 
Holland.  By  calling  it  picturesque  I  do  not  mean  that 
nature  has  made  it  so.  There  are  no  bold  cliffs  over- 
looking the  sea,  no  heathery  hills  reflecting  themselves 
in  placid  lakes,  no  soaring  mountains,  forest-clad  or  snow- 
capped, no  waterfalls  foaming  and  thundering  among  the 
rocks.  It  is  not  what  nature  has  done,  but  what  man  has 
done,  that  makes  Holland  so  picturesque.  There  is  no 
country  on  the  globe  for  which  nature  has  done  so  little 
and  man  has  done  so  much.  By  an  energy  and  industry 
unsurpassed  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  the  Dutchman 
has  wrested  his  land  from  the  ocean  itself,  walling  out 
its  wild  waves  with  huge  dykes,  and  has  converted  this 
swamp  into  a  blooming  paradise,  studded  all  over  with 
prosperous  farms  and  opulent  cities. 
A  Land  beiow  As  the  two  most  common  names  of  this 
Sea  Level.  country  themselves  suggest,  Holland  mean- 
ing Hollow  Land,  and  Netherlands  meaning  Lowlands, 
the  greater  part  of  it  is  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  below 
the  level  of  the  ocean;  that  is  to  say,  the  sea  actually 
rolls  some  ten  yards  higher  than  the  ground  on  which  the 
people  live.  Hence  the  common  remark,  in  which,  how- 
ever, there  is  some  exaggeration,  that  the  frog,  croaking 


THE  MAKING  OF  HOLLAND.  213 

among  the  bulrushes,  looks  down  upon  the  swallow  on 
the  housetops,  and  that  the  ships  float  high  above  the 
chimneys  of  the  houses. 

water  as  Of  course,  then,  there  is  the  ever-present 
an  Enemy,  danger  that  the  ocean  will  break  in  and 
again  overspread  all  this  fair  territory  where  its  waters 
once  rolled,  and  only  by  the  most  remarkable  ingenuity, 
the  most  incessant  vigilance,  and  the  most  untiring  indus- 
try can  it  be  prevented  from  doing  so.  Water  is  the  im- 
memorial enemy  of  the  Dutch.  They  are  trained  at  col- 
lege to  fight  against  water,  as  in  other  lands  soldiers  are 
trained  to  fight  against  the  human  foes  of  their  country. 
They  are  compelled  to  wage  a  perpetual  battle  for  their 
very  existence,  for,  as  some  one  has  expressed  it,  as  soon 
as  they  cease  to  pump  they  begin  to  drown.  It  costs  the 
Dutch  people  about  six  million  dollars  a  year  to  keep  their 
country  above  water,  or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  to 
keep  the  water  above  it.  If  one  wishes  to  appreciate  the 
imminence  of  this  danger,  he  has  only  to  stand  for  a  few 
minutes  at  the  foot  of  one  of  the  great  dykes  on  the  coast, 
at  high  tide,  and  listen  to  the  waves  dashing  against  the 
outer  side  of  the  barrier,  twenty  feet  above  his  head. 
Dykes  as  Of  course,  the  explanation  of  all  this  lies  in 

Protectors,  the  fact  that  Holland  is  of  alluvial  forma- 
tion. Like  Lower  Egypt  and  some  other  regions  at  the 
mouths  of  great  rivers,  it  is  a  delta  land,  the  soil  of  which 
has  been  carried  down  from  the  interior  by  the  Rhine 
and  deposited  here,  little  by  little,  in  the  course  of  the 
ages;  so  that  Napoleon  Bonaparte  is  said  to  have  laid 
claim  to  the  country  on  the  whimsical  plea  that  it  was 
land  robbed  from  other  countries  which  were  his  by  right 
of  conquest.  Moreover  this  particular  delta  lies  farther 
below  sea  level  than  any  other,  Holland,  as  a  whole,  being 
the  lowest  country  in  the  world.  These  vast  and  costly 


214  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

embankments  are  therefore  absolutely  necessary  to  shut 
the  ocean  out  and  keep  it  out.  The  Dutch  proverb  says, 
"God  made  the  sea,  we  made  the  shore." 

But  that  is  not  all.  In  many  places  the  dykes  are  no 
less  necessary  to  prevent  the  country  from  being  over- 
flowed by  the  rivers,  the  beds  of  which  have  been  gradu- 
ally raised  by  alluvial  deposits,  so  that  now  the  surface 
of  the  water  is  considerably  above  the  level  of  the  sur- 
rounding country,  as  is  the  case  in  our  own  land  with 
the  Mississippi  river  at  New  Orleans. 
HOW  Dykes  These  huge  ramparts,  by  which  the  sea  has 
are  made.  been  made  to  obey  the  command  of  Canute, 
sometimes  rise  to  a  height  of  not  less  than  thirty-six  feet, 
and  rest  upon  massive  foundations  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
wide.  They  are  made  of  earth,  sand  and  mud  thoroughly 
consolidated  so  as  to  be  impervious  to  water,  and  the  sur- 
face is  covered  with  interwoven  willow  twigs,  the  inter- 
stices being  filled  with  clay,  and  the  whole  thus  bound 
into  a  solid  mass.  Many  of  the  dykes  are  planted  with 
trees,  the  roots  of  which  help  to  bind  the  materials  of 
the  structure  more  firmly  together.  Others  are  protected 
by  bulwarks  of  masonry  or  by  stakes  driven  along  the 
sides,  the  surface  being  covered  with  turf. 

In  addition  to  the  directly  aggressive  action 

Sand  Dunes.  .  ,  ,       - 

of  the  water,  the  sea  has  made  trouble  for 
the  Hollanders  in  another  way.  Along  the  coast,  low 
sand  hills,  from  thirty  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high, 
have  been  thrown  up  by  the  action  of  the  wind  and  the 
waves,  and,  as  these  dunes,  if  left  to  themselves,  are 
continually  changing  their  shape,  shifting  their  position, 
and  scattering  their  loose  sand  over  the  fertile  land  adja- 
cent, the  people,  in  order  to  prevent  this,  sow  them  an- 
nually with  reed-grass  and  other  plants  which  will  sprout 
in  such  poor  soil,  and  the  roots,  spreading  and  intertwin- 


THE  MAKING  OF  HOLLAND.  215 

ing  in  every  direction,  gradually  consolidate  the  sand, 
form  a  substratum  of  vegetable  soil,  and  convert  the  arid 
sand  dunes  into  stable  and  productive  agricultural  regions. 
Having  thus  made  his  land  by  walling  out 
the  sea  and  the  rivers,  and  by  anchoring 
those  portions  of  it  which  were  too  much  disposed  to 
travel  about,  the  Dutchman's  next  task  was  to  provide 
drains  for  removing  the  superfluous  water  from  the  culti- 
vated land,  fences  for  enclosing  the  portion  belonging  to 
each  individual  farmer  and  separating  it  from  that  of  his 
neighbor,  and  highways  for  communication  and  traffic 
between  the  different  parts  of  the  country.  By  means  of 
canals  he  made  the  conquered  water  serve  all  three  of 
these  purposes.  The  whole  country  is  a  network  of  canals, 
which  stretch  their  shining  lengths  in  every  direction, 
and  which  are  of  all  sizes,  from  the  main  thoroughfares, 
sixty  feet  wide  and  six  feet  deep,  along  which  glide  the 
great  barges  laden  with  merchandise  and  drawn  by  sedate 
horses,  down  to  the  ditches  of  five  or  six  feet  which 
mark  the  boundaries  of  separate  farms  or  divide  the  fields 
of  each  farmer  from  one  another,  canals  being  used  in 
this  way  as  uniformly  as  hedges  and  fences  are  in  other 
lands. 

Remembering,  as  already  stated,  that  not 
only  the  surface  of  the  water,  but  the  beds 
of  the  larger  canals  are  often  considerably  above  the  level 
of  the  surrounding  country,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
problem  of  drainage  was  not  an  easy  one.  The  Dutch 
solved  it  by  making  the  wind  work  for  them.  On  every 
hand  are  seen  windmills,  larger  and  stronger  here  than 
in  any  other  country,  swinging  their  huge  arms,  and 
pumping-  up  the  superfluous  water  from  the  low  lying 
ground  to  the  canals,  which  carry  it  to  the  sea.  These 
mills  are  used  also  for  grinding  grain,  cutting  tobacco, 


216  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

sawing  timber,   manufacturing  paper,   and   many  other 
things  for  which  we  use  water  mills  or  steam  mills. 

Of  late,  however,  windmills  have  been  to  a 
Polders.  large  extent  superseded  by  steam  engines  for 
purposes  of  drainage,  especially  in  the  making  of  polders, 
as  they  call  the  marshes  or  lakes,  the  beds  of  which  have 
been  reclaimed  by  draining.  In  this  process,  which  is 
still  actively  carried  on  by  speculators,  the  morass  or 
lake  to  be  drained  is  first  enclosed  with  a  dyke  to  prevent 
the  entrance  of  any  water  from  without.  Then  the  water 
within  is  removed  by  means  of  peculiarly  constructed 
water-wheels,  driven  by  steam  engines.  Sometimes  the 
lake  is  so  deep  that  the  water  cannot  be  lifted  directly 
to  the  main  canal,  and  thus  be  carried  off,  and  when  this 
is  the  case  a  series  of  dykes  and  canals  at  different  levels 
has  to  be  made,  and  the  water  transferred  successively 
from  one  to  another.  The  land  thus  reclaimed  is  won- 
derfully fertile,  since  in  wet  seasons  superfluous  water 
can  always  be  quickly  removed,  and  in  dry  seasons  thor- 
ough irrigation  can  be  effected  still  more  easily  and 
quickly. 

If  these  polders  could  be  looked  down  upon  from  a 
balloon,  they  would  have  a  very  artificial  appearance, 
something  like  gigantic  checker-boards,  as  they  have  been 
mapped  out  with  mathematical  precision,  divided  into 
rectangular  plots  by  straight  canals  and  straight  rows  of 
trees,  and  furnished  with  houses  all  built  on  exactly  the 
same  pattern. 

The  most  stupendous  work  of  this  kind  ever  projected 
is  the  proposed  construction  of  an  embankment  which 
would  convert  the  Zuider  Zee  into  a  vast  lagoon,  with 
an  area  of  1,400  square  miles,  two-thirds  of  which  could 
be  made  into  a  polder.  It  is  estimated  that  the  work 
would  cost  $75,000,000. 


THE  MAKING  OF  HOLLAND.  217 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  this  little  nation,  which 
has  accomplished  such  wonders  in  making  its  own  land 
and  in  keeping  it  from  being  swallowed  up  by  the  sea 
after  it  was  made,  and  which  has  in  the  past  done  such 
great  things  for  liberty  and  learning,  for  manufactures 
and  commerce,  is  still  capable  of  great  enterprises. 
Entering  No  boy  or  girl  who  has  read  Hans  Brinker 

Holland.  or  the  Silver  Skates  can  ever  think  of  Hol- 
land with  indifference.  No  man  or  woman  who  has  read 
Motley's  stirring  history  of  the  heroic  little  republic  in 
the  Rhine  delta  can  ever  enter  the  Netherlands  without 
a  feeling  of  the  liveliest  interest.  No  lover  of  liberty  who 
recalls  the  sufferings  and  services  of  the  Dutch  Calvinists 
in  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  the  glorious  victory  they 
achieved  against  tremendous  odds,  can  set  foot  on  that 
sacred  soil  without  a  thrill  of  reverent  gratitude. 
The  scenery  Such  were  some  of  the  memories  with 
and  the  Scenes,  which  our  hearts  were  warmed  as  our  train 
from  Brussels  began  to  cross  the  bridges  over  the  broad 
estuaries  that  make  in  from  the  sea  through  the  low,  flat 
country,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Dordrecht  and  Rotter- 
dam, and  to  run  through  an  unmistakably  Dutch  land- 
scape, with  bright  green  fields  divided  into  rectangular 
sections  by  hundreds  of  shining  canals,  and  occupied  by 
innumerable  herds  of  black  and  white  Holstein  cattle, 
not  a  few  of  them  actually  wearing  jackets,  apparently 
made  of  burlaps  or  bagging,  to  protect  them  from  the 
dampness ;  with  level  roads  running  along  the  tops  of  the 
dykes  several  yards  above  the  surrounding  country,  and 
sedate  looking  horses  drawing  old-fashioned  wagons,  and 
brisk  looking  dogs  drawing  clattering  milk  carts,  with 
their  cargo  of  burnished  cans;  with  innumerable  rows 
of  willow  trees,  the  twigs  of  which  the  people  use  to  make 
the  covering  of  the  dykes,  and  the  wood  of  which  they 
IS 


2i8  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

use  to  make  their  heavy,  pointed  shoes,  or  sabots;  with 
picturesque  houses  roofed  with  red  tiles,  and  broad-built 
peasants  working  in  the  fields,  wearing  those  same  wooden 
sabots,  and  clean  looking  market  women  trudging  into 
the  towns  in  their  exceedingly  picturesque  head-dress  of 
gold  helmets  covered  with  lace  caps;  with  stiff,  sym- 
metrical gardens,  and  trees  clipped  into  fantastic  shapes; 
with  quaint  old  church  steeples  and  gilded  weather-cocks ; 
and  ever  and  anon  a  weather-beaten  windmill  swinging 
its  great  arms  between  us  and  the  low  horizon.  This  was 
Holland,  beyond  a  doubt. 

An  interesting  indication  of  the  important 
part  played  by  the  dykes  in  the  development 
of  Holland  is  the  number  of  towns  which  have  been  named 
from  the  dyke  or  dam  originally  built  on  a  site,  such 
as  Rotterdam,  Schiedam,  Amsterdam,  and  so  on.  The 
first  important  place  we  passed  was  Rotterdam,  the  most 
active  seaport  of  Holland,  with  a  population  of  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand,  and  from  the  high  railway 
bridge  on  which  we  crossed  the  Maas  we  had  a  good 
view  of  the  boompjes,  as  they  call  the  magnificent  quays, 
which,  with  their  graceful  fringe  of  trees  and  their  tangled 
forest  of  shipping,  line  the  banks  of  the  river  for  a  mile 
and  a  half.  We  caught  a  glimpse  also  of  the  bronze 
statue  of  Erasmus,  the  Dutch  scholar,  who,  as  some  say, 
"laid  the  egg  which  Luther  hatched."  On  a  former  visit 
to  Rotterdam  I  had  seen  the  birthplace  of  this  illustrious 
man,  bearing  on  its  front  the  inscription,  "Haec  est  parva 
domus,  magnus  qua  natus  Erasmus"  (this  is  the  little 
house  in  which  great  Erasmus  was  born.) 

Leaving  Rotterdam,   we  pass  on  our  left 
Delftshaven,  from  which  a  party  of  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers  sailed  to  America  in  1620;  then  Schiedam, 
noted  for  its  "schnapps,"  of  which  there  are  more  than 


THE  MAKING  OF  HOLLAND.  219 

two  hundred  distilleries;  then  Delft,  where  William  the 
Silent,  the  immortal  founder  of  Dutch  independence,  was 
assassinated  by  a  Jesuit  whom  the  Roman  Catholic  per- 
secutors of  the  Netherlands  had  hired  to  rid  them  of 
their  great  foeman,  but  which,  I  fear,  is  better  known 
to  some  of  my  readers  as  the  place  where  a  certain  blue- 
glazed  earthenware  used  to  be  made  in  imitation  of 
Chinese  porcelain;  and  then,  fifteen  miles  from  Rotter- 
dam, The  Hague,  one  of  the  handsomest  towns  in  Hol- 
land, with  the  Royal  Palace,  and  in  a  lovely  park  outside 
the  city  the  royal  villa,  called  The  House  in  the  Wood, 
and  two  miles  away  on  the  sea  the  fashionable  watering- 
place  of  Scheveningen,  and  in  the  city  itself  scrupulously 
clean  and  bright  houses  on  every  hand,  where  its  two 
hundred  thousand  people  live,  and,  above  all,  the  picture 
gallery,  with  its  two  world-renowned  paintings  by  Rem- 
brandt and  Potter,  to  say  nothing  of  others  scarcely  infe- 
rior, if  at  all  so,  such  as  Vermeer's  "View  of  Delft,"  with 
its  red  and  blue  roofs  partly  lit  up  with  yellow  sunlight, 
a  simple  view  which  "is  perhaps  unmatched  by  any  other 
landscape  in  the  world  for  the  truthfulness  of  its  atmos- 
pheric and  light  effects  and  for  the  vigor  and  brilliance 
of  its  coloring."  Paul  Potter's  "Young  Bull"  is  a  mar- 
vellous picture,  but  the  one  which  demands  and  repays 
the  longest  study  is  Rembrandt's  "School  of  Anatomy," 
which  shows  us  the  celebrated  Nicolaas  Tulp,  in  black 
coat,  lace  collar  and  broad-brimmed  soft  hat,  explaining 
the  anatomy  of  the  arm  of  a  corpse  to  a  body  of  surgeons, 
who  listen  to  the  lecture  with  the  most  life-like  expres- 
sions, and  which  has  been  happily  characterized  as  the 
truest  and  most  life-like  representation  of  the  "working 
of  intellect"  ever  produced. 

A  Presbyterian       As    WC   had    reminded   OUrselveS   when   Visit- 
Government,    ing  the  royal  residences  that  the  young  and 


220  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

beloved  Queen  Wilhelmina  is  the  only  Presbyterian  Queen 
in  the  world,  so  we  reminded  ourselves  when  visiting  the 
Chambers  of  the  States  General  that  Holland  is  the  only 
country  in  the  world  which  has  the  good  fortune  to  have 
a  Presbyterian  preacher  for  its  Prime  Minister.  Of 
course,  other  countries  have  Presbyterian  laymen  for 
prime  ministers,  Mr.  Balfour  of  Great  Britain,  for  ex- 
ample, but  Holland  is  the  only  one  that  has  placed  the 
helm  of  the  state  in  the  hands  of  a  preacher.  His  name 
is  the  Rev.  Dr.  Abraham  Kuyper,  and  he  is  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  versatile  men  in  the  world.  His  recent 
book  on  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  grcalest  monograph  on 
that  subject  that  has  appeared  since  the  work  of  John 
Owen.  He  has  rendered  a  great  service  to  the  cause  of 
vital  religion  in  checking  the  rationalistic  views  of  such 
men  as  Professor  Kuenen,  and  strongly  reasserting  the 
evangelical  doctrines  to  which  Holland  has  been  so  deeply 
indebted  in  the  past  for  the  heroic  character  of  her  people, 
and  the  glorious  position  she  holds  in  the  history  of  human 
freedom.  Though  the  Chambers  were  not  in  session  when 
we  visited  the  Binnenhof,  we  took  special  pleasure  in 
having  even  the  chair  of  Dr.  Kuyper  pointed  out  to  us. 

unpresbyterian     B?  the  w^'  the  cathedrals  and  other  great 
church  churches    of    Holland    erected    before    the 

uiidmes.  Reformation  strikingly  illustrate  how  unfit 
such  structures  are  for  Christian  worship,  according  to 
the  simple  New  Testament  model,  especially  for  preaching 
the  gospel.  They  are  adapted  only  to  the  spectacular 
ceremonies  of  the  Roman  Catholics  and  other  ritualists. 
Therefore,  any  Protestant  community  which  has  had  the 
misfortune  to  inherit  a  cathedral  from  the  unreformed 
period  has  an  elephant  on  its  hands.  The  Dutch  people, 
being  mostly  Presbyterians,  have  had  this  experience,  and, 
finding  themselves  unable  to  make  the  most  effective  use 


THE  MAKING  OF  HOLLAND.  221 

of  these  great  buildings  erected  for  Romish  rites,  have 
allowed  them  to  assume  a  very  unattractive,  dreary  and 
barn-like  appearance  on  the  inside. 

The  question  may  shock  our  aesthetic  friends,  but, 
notwithstanding  the  incalculable  loss  to  art,  would  it  not 
have  been  better  for  the  world  if  the  Protestant  countries 
at  the  time  of  the  Reformation  had  macadamized  all  their 
cathedrals?  And  if  any  one  hesitates  to  answer  in  the 
affirmative,  let  him  consider  carefully  the  connection  be- 
tween the  modes  of  worship,  and  the  character  of  the 
worshipper,  and  let  him  explain  to  himself  clearly  why 
it  is  that  the  countries  which  have  adopted  the  Protestant 
model,  with  its  steady  appeal  to  the  reason,  and  its  earnest 
insistence  upon  intelligent  apprehension  of  the  truth,  are 
the  cleanest,  safest,  thriftiest  and  strongest  countries  in 
the  world,  while  those  which  have  adopted  the  Romish 
model,  with  its  constant  appeal  to  the  aesthetic  sensibilities, 
and  its  millinery,  music,  processions,  incense,  and  "vain 
repetitions,"  are  precisely  the  countries  which  have  suf- 
fered the  greatest  material  and  moral  deterioration,  and 
which  were  not  long  ago  contemptuously  characterized 
by  Lord  Salisbury,  the  late  Premier  of  Great  Britain,  as 
"decaying  nations." 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

LEYDEN'S  UNIVERSITY,  HAARLEM'S  FLOWERS,  AND  AM- 
STERDAM'S COMMERCE. 

UTRECHT,  October  25,  1902. 

TT7"  E  gave  only  one  day  to  Leyden,  ten  miles  from  The 
Hague,  but  it  was  one  of  the  most  interesting 
days  we  have  had  in  Europe.  Taking  a  guide  at  the 
railway  station,  we  traversed  the  quaint  streets  and 
crossed  and  recrossed  the  multitudinous  canals,  and 
climbed  to  the  top  of  the  great  fortified  circular  mound 
of  earth  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  called  the  Burg,  the 
foundations  of  which  date  from  the  tenth  century,  and 
from  the  top  of  which  we  had  a  unique  view  of  the  heroic 
old  town  and  the  peaceful  homes  of  its  fifty-four  thousand 
people. 

But  one  does  not  go  far  in  Leyden  without 

The  Great  Siege.     , 

being  reminded  of  the  terrible  siege  to 
which  it  was  subjected  by  the  Spaniards  in  1574.  One 
such  reminder  is  the  bronze  statue  of  the  gallant  Mayor 
Van  der  Werf,  who  defended  the  city  in  that  siege  and 
would  listen  to  no  suggestion  of  surrender.  Another  is 
an  inscription  on  the  front  of  the  Stadhuis,  which,  trans- 
lated, reads:  "When  the  black  famine  had  brought  to 
the  death  nearly  six  thousand  persons,  then  God  the  Lord 
repented  and  gave  us  bread  again  as  much  as  we  could 
wish";  and  which  in  the  original  Dutch  is  an  ingenious 
chronogram,  the  capital  letters  as  Roman  numerals  giving 
the  date,  and  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  letters  used 
in  the  original  indicating  the  number  of  days  during 
which  the  siege  lasted.  But,  after  a  short  and  partial 
relief,  the  siege  was  continued  in  the  form  of  a  blockade 


LEYDEN'S  UNIVERSITY.  223 

for  many  dreadful  months.  William  of  Orange  finally 
cut  the  dykes  and  flooded  the  country,  and  relieved  the 
famished  city  by  ships. 

A  unique  Re-  The  story  of  Leyden  which  made  the  deep- 
ward  of  valor.  est  impression  upon  me  as  a  boy  was  that  of 
William's  offering  to  reward  the  citizens  for  this  gallant 
defence  either  by  exempting  them  from  taxes  for  a  certain 
number  of  years  or  by  the  establishment  of  a  university 
in  their  city.  To  their  everlasting  honor  they  chose  the 
latter,  even  in  that  time  of  distress  and  poverty,  and  the 
University  was  founded  in  1575.  Of  course  we  wished 
to  see  the  University  which  had  such  a  history  as  that, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  we  had  heard  of  Leyden 
jars  ever  since  we  began  the  study  of  electricity  at  college, 
and  that  we  knew  something  of  a  few  of  the  men  whose 
genius  has  at  different  periods  since  made  the  faculty  one 
of  the  most  illustrious  in  Europe,  such  as  "the  learned 
Scaliger,"  the  famous  physician  Boerhaave,  Arminius  and 
Gomar,  champions,  respectively,  of  the  two  theological 
schools  known  as  Arminians  or  Remonstrants  and  Cal- 
vinists,  which  in  1618  brought  their  differences  to  debate 
in  the  famous  Synod  of  Dort ;  and,  as  is  always  the  case 
when  an  opportunity  for  thorough  discussion  on  the  basis 
of  Scripture  is  given,  the  result  was  a  victory  for  the 
Calvinists.  We  remembered  also  with  pleasure  that 
Oliver  Goldsmith,  author  of  the  immortal  Vicar  of  Wake- 
field,  was  for  a  time  a  student  at  the  University  of  Leyden ; 
and  we  recalled  with  less  pleasure  that  in  our  own  day 
the  faculty  of  the  institution  had  furnished  one  of  the 
boldest  advocates  of  the  destructive  criticism  of  the  Old 
Testament,  Professor  Abraham  Kuenen. 
Plain  college  Jt  was  a  satisfaction  to  see  it,  though  there 
Buildings  is  little  to  see;  this  University,  like  most 
Abroad.  of  faQSQ  on  fae  continent,  having  very  indif- 


224  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

ferent  buildings  and  appointments.  The  men  who  some- 
times "kick"  in  American  colleges  and  seminaries  because 
the  class-rooms  and  dormitories  do  not  suit  them,  to  say 
nothing  of  their  board,  would  get  a  superabundance  of 
that  sort  of  exercise  if  they  had  to  attend  the  average 
Dutch  or  German  university.  In  fact,  it  has  been  inti- 
mated at  times  that  there  are  men  in  American  colleges 
and  seminaries  who  belong  to  that  class  of  people  of  whom 
it  was  suggested  that  they  would  grumble  even  after  get- 
ting to  heaven  on  the  ground  that  their  haloes  didn't  fit. 
Fortunately,  however,  these  are  very  few,  the  great  ma- 
jority of  our  American  students  being  not  spoiled  and 
fussy  children,  but  manly,  sensible,  hard  working,  plain 
living,  high  thinking  men. 

Before  leaving  Leyden  we  made  a  point  of 

John  Robinson  * 

andthepn-     visiting  the  house  in  which  the  Rev.  John 

trim  Fathers.    Robmson    liyed        He   wa§   the   leader   Qf    the 

first  Puritans  who  were  banished  from  England,  and  who, 
like  the  adherents  of  every  other  persecuted  faith,  found 
toleration  and  liberty  in  Calvinistic  Holland.  A  bronze 
tablet  affixed  to  the  wall  of  the  church  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  street  contains  a  bas-relief  of  the  Mayflower, 
and  states  that  it  was  at  Mr.  Robinson's  prompting  that 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers  went  forth  to  settle  New  England 
in  1620. 

Horse  Flesh  As  we  passed  with  our  guide  through  what 
as  Food,  looked  like  an  open-air  beef  market,  he  sur- 
prised us  not  a  little  by  telling  us  that  what  the  people 
were  buying  there  was  not  beef,  but  horse  flesh,  which  is 
much  cheaper,  adding  that  the  worn-out  dray  horses  and 
car  horses  of  the  English  cities  were  regularly  bought 
and  shipped  to  Holland  to  be  sold  to  the  poor  instead  of 
beef.  No  doubt  the  people  of  Leyden  became  accustomed 
to  much  worse  fare  than  that  when,  during  the  great  siege 


HAARLEM'S  FLOWERS.  225 

°f  I574,  the  Spaniards  were  trying  to  starve  them  into 
resubmission  to  Roman  Catholicism.  But  those  conditions 
no  longer  exist,  and  the  idea  of  eating  horse  flesh  as  a 
regular  thing  is  not  one  which  commends  itself  to  our 
feelings. 

Haarlem.  ™s  place'  seventeen  miles  from  Leyden, 
also  had  experience  of  the  tender  mercies  of 
the  papal  soldiery  when,  in  1573,  after  a  gallant  defence  of 
seven  months,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
the  entire  garrison,  the  Protestant  ministers  of  the  gospel, 
and  two  thousand  of  the  townspeople  were  executed. 
Haarlem  is  now,  and  has  been  for  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  famous  for  its  horticulture.  It  supplies  bulbs  to 
every  part  of  the  world,  and  in  the  spring  the  nurseries 
around  the  city  are  ablaze  with  the  brilliant  blooms  of 
the  tulips,  hyacinths,  crocuses  and  lilies,  whole  fields  of 
them  in  every  variety  of  color,  like  vast  natural  flags  of 
the  brightest  hues,  lying  on  the  flat  surface  of  the  country, 
and  the  whole  atmosphere  is  impregnated  with  their  de- 
licious fragrance. 

A  Flower          Two  centuries  and  a  half  ago,  at  the  time 
Boom.  Of  tne  "Xuijp  Mania,"  there  was  as  wild 

speculation  in  bulbs  as  there  has  ever  been  in  our  day 
in  stocks.  Enormous  prices  were  paid  for  the  rarer  bulbs. 
For  instance,  a  single  bulb  of  the  species  called  "Semper 
Augustus"  was  sold  for  five  thousand  two  hundred  dol- 
lars. This  statement  will  not  seem  incredible  to  any  of 
my  readers  who  have  had  bitter  experience  with  the 
fictitious  values  created  by  the  "booms"  which  cursed  and 
crippled  so  many  of  our  Southern  communities  a  few 
years  ago.  The  tulip  craze  in  Holland  had  the  same 
history :  the  mania  subsided,  the  prices  fell,  many  of  the 
speculators  were  ruined,  and  before  long  a  "Semper 
Augustus"  could  be  bought  for  twenty  dollars.  Even  that 


226  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

* 

will  seem  to  most  people  a  pretty  high  price  for  a  single 
tulip  bulb. 

A  smaii  We  did  not  stop  at  Haarlem,  as  it  was  not 

Country.  ^e  right  season  for  the  gorgeous  display  of 
flowers  above  referred  to,  that  is,  the  latter  part  of  April 
and  the  beginning  of  May,  but  pushed  on  to  Amsterdam, 
which  is  only  ten  miles  away.  If  the  reader  has  taken 
account  of  the  distances  between  these  populous  cities  as 
they  have  been  successively  mentioned,  and  has  observed 
how  short  they  are,  he  will  have  received  a  very  strong 
impression  of  the  smallness  of  the  country. 

Amsterdam,   the   largest   city   in   Holland, 

Amsterdam.  .  ,  ,      .  -  ,  ,      ...  ., 

with  a  population  of  more  than  half  a  mil- 
lion, is  built  upon  nearly  a  hundred  islands,  separated 
from  one  another  by  a  network  of  canals  and  connected 
by  means  of  some  three  hundred  bridges,  and  is,  therefore, 
sometimes  spoken  of  as  "a  vulgar  Venice,"  but,  with  its 
prodigious  vitality,  its  crowded  streets,  its  busy  waters, 
and  its  financial  eminence,  it  must  be  far  more  like  the 
Venice  which  was  Queen  of  the  Adriatic  some  centuries 
ago  than  the  stagnant  and  melancholy  town  which  bears 
that  name  to-day. 

odoriferous  The  water  in  the  canals  is  about  three  feet 
canals.  deep,  and  below  this  is  a  layer  of  mud  of 
the  same  thickness.  It  is  said  that,  in  order  to  prevent 
malarial  exhalations,  the  water  is  constantly  renewed  from 
an  arm  of  the  North  Sea  Canal  and  the  mud  removed  by 
dredging.  I  hope  this  process  is  effective,  but  there 
were  unmistakable  exhalations  from  the  canals  when  we 
were  there.  Whether  they  were  malarial  or  not  I  cannot 
say,  but  certainly  they  were  unfragrant  to  a  degree.  Still, 
the  evil  smells  of  Amsterdam  are  not  to  be  named  in 
number  and  vigor  with  those  of  Venice. 


AMSTERDAM'S  COMMERCE.  227 

A  city  Built  As  in  Venice,  so  here,  all  the  houses  are  built 
on  stakes.  on  pijes  which  are  driven  fifteen  or  twenty 
feet  through  the  loose  sand  near  the  surface  into  the  firmer 
layers  below.  Hence  the  jest  of  Erasmus,  that  he  knew 
a  city  whose  inhabitants  dwelt  on  the  tops  of  trees  like 
rooks.  They  are  not  so  secure  on  their  perch,  however, 
as  the  rooks.  For,  although  the  preparations  underground 
are  often  more  costly  than  the  buildings  afterwards 
erected  above,  yet,  such  is  the  difficulty  of  securing  a 
firm  foundation,  and  such  the  ravages  of  the  wood  worm 
among  the  fir-tree  piles  after  they  are  driven  into  the  sand 
and  built  upon,  that  many  of  the  brick  houses  which  were 
once  erect  are  now  considerably  out  of  the  perpendicular, 
and  lean  backwards  or  forwards  or  sideways,  according 
as  the  piles  have  given  way  at  one  place  or  another.  In 
1822  thirty- four  hundred  tons  of  grain  were  stored  in  a 
grain  magazine  originally  built  for  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, and,  the  piles  being  unable  to  sustain  the  weight, 
the  building  literally  sank  down  into  the  mud. 
The  Business  Besides  its  importance  as  a  mart  for  the 
of  Amsterdam,  tobacco,  sugar,  rice,  spices,  and  other  pro- 
duce of  the  Dutch  colonies  in  the  East  Indies,  West  Indies 
and  South  America  (which,  by  the  way,  have  a  popula- 
tion of  thirty-five  million,  that  is,  seven  times  as  many 
as  the  little  mother  country),  Amsterdam  has  a  number 
of  important  industrial  establishments,  such  as  ship-yards, 
sugar  and  camphor  refineries,  cobalt-blue  and  candle  fac- 
tories, machine  shops,  breweries,  and  especially  diamond- 
polishing  mills,  of  which  last  there  are  no  less  than 
seventy,  employing  in  all  about  ten  thousand  men.  We 
visited  one  of  these  mills  and  watched  the  process  for  a 
few  minutes. 

The  art  of  polishing  diamonds  was  intro- 
Ouarter.     duced  here  in  the  sixteenth  century  by  For- 


228  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

tuguese  Jews,  who,  driven  from  their  former  homes  by 
papal  persecution,  found  in  Protestant  Holland  an  asylum, 
and,  like  the  oppressed  adherents  of  other  creeds,  secured 
the  full  religious  toleration  which  they  craved.  They  have 
ever  since  constituted  an  important  part  of  the  population 
of  Amsterdam,  and  now  number  about  thirty-five  thou- 
sand. One  of  the  interesting  episodes  of  our  visit  was  a 
drive  through  the  poorer  Jewish  Quarter,  with  its  swarms 
of  untidy  men,  women  and  children.  In  this  quarter  and 
of  this  stock  Spinoza,  the  philosopher,  was  born;  and  in 
this  quarter,  though  not  of  this  stock,  Rembrandt,  the 
painter,  lived  for  fifteen  years,  in  a  house  marked  by  a 
tablet,  which  those  who  are  specially  interested  in  art 
always  wish  to  see. 

Home  of  Presi-  Utrecht,  twenty-two  miles  from  Amster- 
dentKrueer.  dani)  js  an  attractive  city  of  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  It  interested  us  chiefly  as  the  centre 
of  the  Jansenists,  the  redoubtable  Roman  Catholic  adver- 
saries of  the  Jesuits,  and  as  the  peaceful  home  of  ex- 
President  Kruger  since  his  withdrawal  from  the  stormy 
experiences  of  his  life  in  South  Africa.  This  venerable 
man,  so  remarkable  on  account  of  his  public  career,  is  of 
special  interest  to  any  one  connected  with  Union  Semi- 
nary in  Virginia,  because  it  was  under  the  ministry  of  a 
former  student  of  our  Seminary,  the  late  Dr.  Daniel  Lind- 
ley,  who  went  as  a  missionary  to  South  Africa  more  than 
sixty  years  ago,  that  Mr.  Kruger  was  brought  into  the 
church.  He  lives  in  great  comfort  on  the  famous  Malie- 
ban,  which,  with  its  triple  row  of  lime  trees,  is  one  of 
the  loveliest  residential  districts  in  Europe. 
Queer  customs  It  seems  odd  that  in  a  country  where  there 
in  Holland.  js  so  much  water,  there  should  be  so  little 
that  is  fit  to  drink,  and  that  in  a  country  where  land  is  so 
valuable  the  people  should  use  any  part  of  it  for  fuel, 


DUTCH  CITIES.  229 

and  yet,  not  only  does  one  constantly  see  dog-carts  con- 
taining barrels  of  fresh  water  and  loads  of  peat  passing 
hither  and  thither  in  the  towns,  but  at  cellar  doors  in 
the  side  streets  sign-boards  are  seen  announcing  "water 
and  fire  to  sell,"  and  at  these  places  the  poorer  classes 
buy  the  boiling  water  or  red-hot  turf  that  they  need  to 
make  their  tea  or  coffee.  Foot-warmers  are  very  gener- 
ally used  by  the  Dutch  women,  and  in  some  of  the 
churches  we  saw  immense  numbers  of  these  little  fire- 
boxes. 

The  Comfort  of     This  reminds  me  to  say,  for  the  benefit  of 
a  Hot  water   any  of  my  readers  who  niav  be  planning  a 

Bottle. 

trip  to  rLurope,  that  two  things  are  more 
conducive  to  comfort  and  health  than  a  good  hot-water 
bottle  when  one  is  travelling  in  Northern  or  Central 
Europe,  for  these  lands  are  much  colder  than  ours  in 
spring,  summer  and  autumn,  and  arrangements  for  heat- 
ing the  hotels  either  do  not  exist  or  are  utterly  ineffeccive. 
American  tourists  who  do  not  observe  this  precaution  are 
likely  to  need  physic,  and,  by  the  way,  the  universal  sign 
for  drug  stores  in  Holland  is  not  the  mortar  and  pestle, 
but  "the  gaper,"  that  is,  a  painted  Turk's  head  showing 
his  tongue. 

In  Amsterdam  and  other  Dutch  cities  many 
Domestic  £  t^  nouses  which  are  made  of  brick  with 

Store-rooms 

in  the  TOP  light  colored  painting  and  have  a  very  sub- 
stantial and  neat  appearance,  are  narrow 
and  high,  standing  with  ornamented  gable  ends  to  the 
street,  and  have  beams  projecting  from  the  gables  with 
fixtures  for  hoisting  goods  to  the  top  stories,  which  are 
used  for  store-rooms.  These  are  not  business  houses,  but 
dwelling  houses  of  people  well  to  do,  and  the  windows 
and  woodwork  from  top  to  bottom  are  scrupulously  clean 
and  bright. 


230  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Broeck,  in  the  north  of  Holland,  is  said  to 

The  Original  1,1  •     •       1    KC       ^  T-  »      iw       j-j 

"spotless         be  the  original     Spotless  Town.       We  did 


Town."  not  yjgjf.  thjs  piace>  but  it  is  thus  described 

by  a  writer  in  Public  Opinion  who  has  done  so  : 

"The  palings  of  the  fences  of  Broeck  are  sky-blue. 
The  streets  are  paved  with  shining  bricks  of  many  colors. 
The  houses  are  rose-colored,  black,  gray,  purple,  light 
blue  or  pale  green.  The  doors  are  painted  and  gilded. 
For  hours  you  may  not  see  a  soul  in  the  streets  or  at  the 
windows.  The  streets  and  houses,  bridges,  windows  and 
barns  show  a  neatness  and  a  brilliancy  that  are  absolutely 
painful. 

"At  every  step  a  new  effect  is  disclosed,  a  new  scene 
is  beheld,  as  if  painted  upon  the  drop-curtain  of  a  stage. 
Everything  is  minute,  compact,  painted,  spotless  and  clean. 
In  the  houses  of  Broeck  for  cleaning  purposes  you  will 
find  big  brooms,  little  brooms,  tooth-brushes,  aqua  fortis, 
whiting  for  the  window  panes,  rouge  for  the  forks  and 
spoons,  coal  dust  for  the  copper,  emery  for  the  iron  uten- 
sils, brick  powder  for  the  floors,  and  even  small  splinters 
of  wood  with  which  to  pick  out  the  tiny  bits  of  straw  in 
the  cracks  between  the  bricks.  Here  are  some  of  the  rules 
of  this  wonderful  town: 

"Citizens  must  leave  their  shoes  at  the  door  when 
entering  a  house. 

"Before  or  after  sunset  no  one  is  allowed  to  smoke 
excepting  with  a  pipe  having  a  cover,  so  that  the  ashes 
will  not  be  scattered  upon  the  street. 

"Any  one  crossing  the  village  on  horseback  must  get 
out  of  the  saddle  and  lead  the  horse. 

"A  cuspidor  shall  be  kept  by  the  front  door  of  each 
house. 

"It  is  forbidden  to  cross  the  village  in  a  carriage,  or  to 
drive  animals  through  the  streets." 


"THE  MOTHER  OF  AMERICA."          231 

Thus,  it  appears  that  "Spotless  Town"  is  not  merely 
an  ideal  existing  in  the  imagination  of  the  man  who  writes 
the  very  clever  verses  placarded  in  our  street-cars  and 
elsewhere  in  praise  of  the  cleansing  properties  of  Sapolio, 
but  a  reality;  and  there  are  numerous  places  in  Holland 
which  in  point  of  cleanliness  would  put  to  shame  any  of 
our  American  towns. 
A  Pardonable  Some  one  has  said  that  the  Dutch  love  of 

Mania.  cleanliness  amounts  almost  to  a  monomania, 
and  that  the  washing,  scrubbing  and  polishing  to  which 
every  house  is  subjected  once  every  w'eek  is  rather  sub- 
versive of  comfort.  And  it  would  appear  from  the  regula- 
tions above  cited  that  the  matter  is  sometimes  pushed  to 
extremes.  But  my  experience  as  a  traveller  in  some  parts 
of  my  own  country,  as  well  as  in  some  parts  of  other 
lands,  has  made  me  very  tolerant  of  such  a  mania  as  that, 
and,  when  amid  the  filth  of  Venice  or  Naples,  for  instance, 
my  mind  has  reverted  to  these  clean  Dutch  towns,  it  has 
caused  me  to  sigh  —  "O  si  sic  omnes!" 

I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  append  to 

MrBok™nrthe  theSC  letters  ab°Ut  little'  <luamt>  clean>  ener" 

"Mother  of  getic,  heroic,  learned,  unpretentious  Holland 
America."  some  extracts  from  an  article  of  Mr.  Ed- 
ward Bok's  which  I  have  read  since  my  return  to  America. 
He  refers  to  the  fact  that  twenty  thousand  more  American 
travellers  are  said  to  have  visited  the  Netherlands  during 
the  past  summer  than  in  any  previous  year,  and  to  the 
fact  that  there  is  a  rapidly  increasing  demand  for  books 
on  the  history  of  the  Dutch  people,  as  shown  by  the 
reports  of  the  librarians  in  American  towns,  and  he 
regards  these  as  specimens  of  a  group  of  facts  which, 
taken  together,  indicate  clearly  that  the  reading  world 
of  America  is  beginning  to  appreciate  the  real  extent  of 
the  strong  Dutch  influences  which  underlie  American  in- 


232  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

stitutions  and  have  shaped  American  life.  He  says  that 
for  years  we  have  written  in  our  histories  and  taught  in 
our  schools  that  this  nation  is  a  transplanted  England; 
that  the  institutions  which  have  made  this  country  dis- 
tinctively great  were  derived  from  England.  But  he 
denies  that  England  is  entitled  to  this  honor,  and  declares 
that  the  true  mother  land  of  America  is  not  England,  but 
Holland: 

"Take,  for  instance,  what  may  be  truly  designated  as 
the  four  vital  institutions  upon  which  America  not  only 
rests,  but  which  have  caused  it  to  be  regarded  as  the  most 
distinctive  nation  in  the  world.  I  mean  our  public-school 
system  of  free  education;  our  freedom  of  religious  wor- 
ship ;  our  freedom  of  the  press ;  and  our  freedom  of 
suffrage  as  represented  by  the  secret  ballot.  Not  one  of 
these  came  from  England,  since  not  one  of  them  existed 
there  when  they  were  established  in  America;  in  fact, 
only  one  of  them  existed  in  England  earlier  than  fifty 
years  after  they  existed  in  America,  and  the  other  three 
did  not  exist  in  England  until  nearly  one  hundred  years 
after  their  establishment  in  America.  Each  and  all  of 
these  four  institutions  came  to  America  directly  from 
Holland.  Take  the  two  documents  upon  which  the  whole 
fabric  of  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  America 
rests  —  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Federal 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  —  and  one,  the  Declara- 
tion, is  based  almost  entirely  upon  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence of  the  United  Republic  of  the  Netherlands; 
while  all  through  the  Constitution  its  salient  points  are 
based  upon,  and  some  literally  copied  from,  the  Dutch 
Constitution.  So  strong  is  this  Netherland  influence  upon 
our  American  form  of  government  that  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  as  a  body,  derives  most  of  the  pecu- 
liarities of  its  organization  from  the  Netherlands  States 


"THE  MOTHER  OF  AMERICA."          233 

General,  a  similar  body,  and  its  predecessor  by  nearly  a 
century  of  years,  while  even  in  the  American  flag  we  find 
the  colors  and  the  five-pointed  star  chosen  from  the  Dutch. 

"The  common  modern  practice  of  the  State  allowing 
a  prisoner  the  free  services  of  a  lawyer  for  his  defence, 
and  the  office  'of  a  district  attorney  for  each  county,  are 
so  familiar  to  us  that  we  regard  them  as  American  inven- 
tions. Both  institutions  have  been  credited  to  England, 
whereas,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  impossible  to  find  in 
England  even  to-day  any  official  corresponding  to  our 
district  attorney.  Both  of  these  institutions  existed  in 
Holland  three  centuries  before  they  were  brought  to 
America. 

"The  equal  distribution  of  property  among  the  chil- 
dren of  a  person  dying  intestate  —  that  is,  without  a 
will  —  was  brought  to  America  direct  from  Holland  by 
the  Puritans.  It  never  existed  in  England. 

"The  record  of  all  deeds  and  mortgages  in  a  public 
office,  a  custom  which  affects  every  man  and  woman  who 
owns  or  buys  property,  came  to  America  direct  from 
Holland.  It  never  came  from  England,  since  it  does  not 
exist  there  even  at  the  present  day. 

"The  township  system,  by  which  each  town  has  local 
self-government,  with  its  natural  sequence  of  local  self- 
government  in  county  and  State,  came  from  Holland. 

"The  practice  of  making  prisoners  work,  and  turning 
prisons  into  workhouses,  and,  in  fact,  our  whole  modern 
American  management  of  free  prisons  which  has  caused 
the  admiration  of  the  entire  world,  was  brought  from 
Holland  to  America  by  William  Penn. 

"Group  these  astonishing  facts  together,  if  you  will, 
and  see  their  tremendous  import :  The  Federal  Constitu- 
tion ;  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  the  whole  organ- 
ization of  the  Senate ;  our  State  Constitutions ;  our  free- 
id 


234  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

dom  of  religion;  our  free  schools;  our  free  press;  our 
written  ballot;  our  town,  county  and  State  systems  of 
self-government ;  the  system  of  recording  deeds  and  mort- 
gages; the  giving  of  every  criminal  a  just  chance  for 
his  life;  a  public  prosecutor  of  crime  in  every  county; 
our  free  prison  workhouse  system  —  to  say  nothing  of 
kindred  important  and  vital  elements  in  our  national  life. 
When  each  and  all  of  these  can  be  traced  directly  to  one 
nation,  or  to  the  influence  of  that  nation,  and  that  nation 
not  England,  is  it  any  wonder,  asks  one  enlightened  his- 
torian, that  some  modern  scholars,  who,  looking  beneath 
the  mere  surface  resemblance  of  language,  seek  an  ex- 
planation of  the  manifest  difference  between  the  people 
of  England  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  assumed 
by  them  to  be  of  the  same  blood,  and  influenced  by  the 
same  (?)  institutions? 

"Nor  is  it  strange  that  so  strong  a  Dutch  influence 
should  have  entered  into  the  establishment  and  making  of 
America,  when  one  considers  the  immense  debt  which 
the  world  owes  to  Holland.  For  it  may  be  said  without 
fear  of  contradiction  that  in  nearly  every  art  which  uplifts 
and  adorns  human  life,  in  nearly  every  aspect  of  human 
endeavor,  Holland  has  not  only  added  to  the  moral  re- 
sources of  mankind  and  contributed  more  to  the  fabric 
of  civilization,  but  has  also  actually  led  the  way.  It  was 
the  first  nation  to  master  the  soil  and  teach  agriculture 
to  the  world.  It  has  taught  the  world  the  art  of  garden- 
ing. It  taught  commerce  and  merchandise  to  the  entire 
world  when  it  ranked  as  the  only  great  commercial  nation 
on  the  globe.  It  taught  the  broadest  lines  of  finance  to 
the  world  by  the  establishment,  in  1609,  of  its  great  Bank 
of  Amsterdam,  with  one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  of 
dollars  deposits,  preceding  the  establishment  of  the  Bank 
of  England  by  nearly  one  hundred  years.  The  founding 


"THE  MOTHER  OF  AMERICA."          235 

of  its  great  University  of  Leyden,  in  1575,  marked  an 
epoch  in  the  world's  history  of  education,  and  made  the 
Netherlands  the  centre  of  learning  of  Europe.  Here  was 
founded  international  law  through  Grotius,  one  of  Hol- 
land's greatest  sons.  Here  Boerhaave,  a  Dutchman,  revo- 
lutionized medicine  by  his  wonderful  discoveries  until 
Holland's  medical  school  became  the  seat  of  authority 
for  all  Europe.  From  this  centre,  too,  came  that  great 
lesson  in  the  publishing  of  books  in  the  shape  of  the 
famous  Elzevir  books.  It  was  the  first  nation  to  place 
the  reader  and  the  spelling-book  in  the  hands  of  the  child, 
irrespective  of  station  or  means.  As  musicians,  for  nearly 
two  hundred  years  the  Netherlands  stood  supreme,  and 
furnished  all  the  courts  of  Europe  with  vocal  and  instru- 
mental music.  It  was  the  Dutch  who  founded,  in  Naples, 
the  first  musical  conservatory  in  the  world,  and  another 
in  Venice,  and  it  was  to  their  influence  and  example  that 
the  renowned  school  of  Rome  owed  its  existence. 

"The  starting  of  all  these  masterful  influences  would 
alone  make  a  nation  great.  But  these  were  only  a  part  of 
Holland's  wonderful  contributions  to  the  world's  en- 
lightenment. It  went  on  and  introduced  to  the  world 
the  manufacture  of  woollen  cloth  that  marked  an  epoch 
in  history,  and  followed  this  up  by  developing  the  manu- 
facture of  silk,  linen,  tapestry  and  lace  until  it  made  its 
city  of  Flanders  the  manufacturing  centre  of  the  world. 
It  devised  and  presented  through  the  Van  Eyck  brothers 
the  wonderful  discovery  of  oil  painting,  and  revolution- 
ized the  world  of  art,  and  gave,  in  the  person  of  one  of 
these  brothers,  Jan  Van  Eyck,  the  originator  of  the  painted 
portrait.  Then  came  the  invention  of  wood-engraving 
by  a  Dutchman,  followed  quickly  by  the  printing  of  books 
from  blocks;  the  substitution  of  movable  type  for  the 
solid  block  of  wood,  and  we  have  the  printing-press  —  the 


236  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

invention  of  which  Germany  may  never  concede  to  Hol- 
land, and  yet  the  germ  of  which  lay  in  the  block  books 
to  which  Holland  lays  unquestioned  claim.  But  Holland 
need  never  squabble  over  a  single  invention.  A  nation 
that,  in  addition  to  what  has  been  cited  above,  has  likewise 
invented  the  telescope,  the  microscope,  the  thermometer, 
the  method  of  measuring  degrees  of  latitude  and  longi- 
tude, the  pendulum  clock,  thereby  putting  before  the 
world  the  beginning  of  anything  which  we  can  call  accu- 
racy in  time,  and  discovered  the  capillary  circulation  of 
the  blood,  need  not  stop  to  split  straws. 

There  is  a  wonderful  charm  in  reading  the  history 
of  a  people  who  have  done  so  much  toward  the  enlighten- 
ment of  the  world,  and  not  alone  in  one  field  of  thought 
or  activity,  but  in  every  field  of  human  endeavor.  The 
people  of  no  nation  make  so  bold  and  strong  an  impression 
on  the  mind  as  one  after  another  of  their  achievements 
pass  before  one,  and  especially  when  it  is  considered 
that  all  these  contributions  to  humankind  were  done  with 
one  hand  while  the  other  was  busy  in  saving  every  foot 
of  land  from  the  rushing  waters.  But  the  people  always 
remained  cool,  balanced  and  solid.  That  same  patient  but 
deep,  perfervid  spirit  which  built  the  dykes  and  saved 
the  land  with  one  hand,  and  opened  those  same  dykes, 
built  by  the  very  life-blood  of  the  people,  with  the  other, 
and  flooded  the  land  against  encroaching  enemies  —  that 
same  spirit  built  up  a  nation  unrivalled  in  history  as  a 
financial,  commercial,  maritime,  art,  learning,  medical  and 
political  centre,  from  which  have  radiated  the  strongest 
influences  for  the  upbuilding  of  great  empires  —  not  only 
in  the  new  Western  world  of  America,  but  also  in  the 
far  East  of  the  Indies,  and  in  the  strong  colonial  estab- 
lishment of  South  Africa.  Her  glory  may  be  of  the  past, 
but  he  is  indeed  a  rash  prophet  who  would  predict  the 


"THE  MOTHER  OF  AMERICA."          237 

future  of  any  nation,  however  small,  on  the  face  of  the 
globe  of  to-day.  Of  some  things  the  American  traveller 
is  to-day  constantly  convinced:  that  there  is  less  intel- 
lectual veneer  in  Holland  than  in  any  other  country  in 
Europe;  that  there  is  more  solid  and  abiding  culture  of 
the  very  highest  kind,  and  that  the  modern  Dutch  family 
represents  a  repose  of  mind,  a  simplicity  of  living,  and 
a  contented  happiness  with  life  in  general  that  we,  as  a 
nation,  might  well  envy." 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
UP  THE  RHINE  AND  OVER  THE  ALPS. 

THE  Cologne  Cathedral  is  the  finest  Gothic  structure 
in  the  world  We  had  a  perfect  view  of  the  ma- 
jestic exterior  from  the  windows  of  our  hotel,  but,  of 
course,  devoted  most  of  our  time  to  the  still  more  im- 
pressive interior.  It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  descant 
upon  these  things  which  are  described  in  all  the  books 
of  travel.  The  city  possesses  other  objects  of  interest 
besides  its  matchless  cathedral,  and  some  of  them  we 
visited,  in  spite  of  the  weather.  It  was  cold  and  wet, 
and  we  did  not  prolong  our  stay.  But  no  conditions  of 
weather  could  have  deterred  us  from  taking  the  steamer 
for  our  trip  up  the  Rhine,  rather  than  the  railroad.  It 
was  late  in  the  season.  The  summer  tourists  had  long 
since  returned  to  their  homes  in  England  and  America. 
We  had  the  boat  pretty  much  to  ourselves.  We  could 
hardly  have  fallen  upon  a  worse  day  for  the  first  half  of 
our  trip.  It  was  not  only  cold,  but  foggy,  and  we  could 
get  only  tantalizing  glimpses  of  the  shores  now  and  then 
when  the  mist  thinned  a  little.  So  it  continued  nearly  all 
the  way  to  Coblentz,  where  we  landed  and  spent  the  night. 
We  comforted  ourselves,  however,  with  the  reflection  that 
the  finest  scenery  was  farther  up,  and  with  the  hope  that 
we  should  have  a  better  day  for  that  part  of  the  trip. 
And  we  had.  The  mist  was  rolling  away  rapidly  when 
we  rose  next  morning,  and  it  soon  disappeared,  leaving 
us  a  fine  autumn  day.  After  listening  to  the  exhilarating 
music  of  a  military  band  which  was  serenading  a  young 
general  near  our  hotel  and  after  taking  a  look  at  the 


THE  RHINE  AND  THE  ALPS.  239 

noble  statue  of  William  I.,  and  at  the  massive  fortifications 
of  Ehrenbreitstein,  the  German  Gibraltar,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  we  took  the  boat  in  better  spirits,  ad- 
dressed ourselves  with  more  zest  than  before  to  the  volume 
of  Legends  of  the  Rhine,  and  thus  began  a  delightful  and 
memorable  day. 

The  chief  advantage  of  making  this  celebrated  trip 
at  this  season  is  that  one  thus  gets  the  opportunity  to 
see  the  vintage  of  the  Rhine  Valley  as  it  can  be  seen  at 
no  other  season. 

"Purple  and  red,  to  left,  to  right, 
For  miles  the  gorgeous  vintage  blazed." 

Though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  believe  that  most  of  the 
Rhine  grapes  that  we  saw  were  white.  The  steep  s!6pes 
of  the  hills  among  which  the  great  river  winds  are  cov- 
ered with  vineyards,  the  vines  in  rows  as  regular  as  ranks 
of  Indian  corn,  and  laden  with  millions  of  luscious 
bunches.  The  vintagers,  men,  women  and  children,  in 
picturesque  costumes  and  with  huge  baskets  on  their 
backs,  were  busy  everywhere  stripping  the  fruit  from 
the  yellow  vines.  The  soil  is  kept  in  place  by  stone  ter- 
races. Above  the  line  of  the  vineyards  jut  out  the  huge 
rocks  of  the  mountains,  their  gray  bastions  alternating 
with  forests  robed  in  green,  brown,  red  and  yellow,  and 
standing  out  boldly  against  the  pure  blue  sky. 

It  is  only  by  strong  self-restraint  that  I  can  pass  with- 
out special  notice  such  a  rock  as  Rhinestein,  such  a  town 
as  Bingen,  and  such  a  monument  as  that  to  "Germania" 
on  the  Niederwald,  but  it  must  be  done. 

November  15,  1902. 
Wiesbaden,  the  most  charming  of  German 

'Wiesbaden  and  .  .  j    i_       j 

the  German       watering-places,  is  a  clean  and  handsome 
woods.  city}   with  broad  and   well   paved   streets, 


240  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

many  attractive  shops  and  pleasant  residences,  excellent 
hotels,  extensive  and  lovely  parks,  a  sumptuous  opera 
house,  a  less  costly  but  very  spacious  music  hall  (where, 
by  the  way,  we  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  Frau  Shuman- 
Heink  sing),  and  a  few  large  and  costly  churches,  but 
with  no  adequate  arrangements,  so  far  as  I  could  see,  for 
the  churching  of  its  large  population.  The  place  owes  its 
importance  primarily  to  the  Boiling  Salt  Springs,  which 
here  gush  from  the  earth,  and  which  have  made  this  the 
great  resort  for  rheumatics  and  the  victims  of  various 
other  ailments.  It  is  also  the  home  of  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  oculists  in  Europe,  whose  patients  come  to  him 
from  every  part  of  the  world.  The  chief  attraction  for 
those  who  are  fond  of  outdoor  life  is  the  glorious  forests 
which  stretch  from  Wiesbaden  back  through  the  valleys 
and  over  the  Taunus  Mountains.  One  of  our  young 
people  has  just  been  writing  to  the  folks  at  home  about 
an  eighteen-mile  walk  through  these  woods,  guided  only 
by  the  blazed  trees,  and  speaks  with  pardonable  enthu- 
siasm of  "the  blue-gray  trunks  outlined  against  the  terra 
cotta  carpet  of  fallen  leaves,  the  sunlight  glancing  through 
the  trees,  and  the  gently  waving  branches  against  the 
azure  sky.  There  is  no  undergrowth  as  in  our  forests 
at  home,  but  there  are  here  and  there  gray  rocks,  large 
and  small,  covered  with  fresh  green  moss,  or  with  gray, 
pink  and  yellow  lichen.  There  were  rustic  benches  all 
along,  but  the  forest  was  quite  deserted  except  for  an 
occasional  woodman  with  a  fire  and  piles  of  neatly 
chopped  wood,  or  some  little  boys  drawing  carts  filled 
with  bundles  of  sticks  for  winter  use." 

NOVEMBER  20,  1902. 
We  spent  three  weeks  at  wholesome  Wies- 

Worms, 

baden,    counting  a   day   that   we   gave  to 
.    Mayence,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rhine, 


THE  RHINE  AND  THE  ALPS.  241 

for  the  purpose  of  seeing  the  memorials  of  Gutenberg, 
the  inventor  of  printing.  Then  we  took  the  train  for 
Worms.  The  chief  "lion"  here  is,  of  course,  the  mag- 
nificent Luther  monument,  a  thing  which  no  visitor  to 
this  part  of  the  world  should  fail  to  see.  Recrossing  the 
Rhine,  we  ran  up  to  Heidelberg,  and  devoted  a  day  to 
the  fine  old  castle  and  the  famous  university  —  a  stinging 
cold  day  it  was,  too.  Nor  did  winter  relax  his  grip  at 
Strasburg,  for  there  we  had  snow.  One  of  the  youngsters 
celebrated  his  birthday  there  by  watching  the  noon  per- 
formances of  the  world-renowned  clock  in  the  old  Cathe- 
dral, our  whole  party  going  with  him,  the  adults  watching 
the  wonderful  mechanism  with  scarcely  less  interest  than 
the  children.  The  striking  of  that  clock  and  the  move- 
ments of  its  various  figures  and  fixtures  at  twelve  o'clock 
every  day  invariably  draws  a  large  crowd  of  people.  We 
saw  the  storks'  nests  on  the  chimneys,  too,  but  of  course 
the  storks  themselves  were  down  in  the  warm  sunshine 
of  Africa  at  that  season. 

November  23,  1902. 

Switzerland  in  Switzerland  caps  the  climax  of  scenic  in- 
winter-time.  tercst  in  Europe  —  lakes,  waterfalls,  moun- 
tains, glaciers  —  language  and  pictures  are  alike  unavail- 
ing to  convey  an  adequate  impression  of  this  sublime 
scenery.  My  first  views  of  it  were  in  midsummer.  On 
the  3  ist  of  July,  1896,  at  the  top  of  the  Wengern  Alp, 
seven  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  reached  by  rail  all  the 
way,  my  travelling  companions  and  I  had  coasted  on  sleds 
over  the  snow  like  boys,  wearing  our  heavy  overcoats 
the  while.  Above  us  rose  the  Jungfrau,  six  thousand 
feet  higher,  piercing  the  clouds.  As  we  watched,  the 
clouds  parted,  and  the  white  Jungfrau,  wearing  the  daz- 
zling Silberhorn  on  her  bosom,  burst  upon  our  view. 
Never  shall  we  see  anything  more  beautiful  till  our  eyes 


242  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

rest  upon  the  pinnacles  of  the  celestial  city.  We  were 
standing  at  the  time  on  the  Eiger  Glacier,  an  immense 
mass  of  pale  green  ice  covered  with  a  snowy  crust.  Long- 
fellow somewhere  (in  "Hyperion,"  I  think)  likens  the 
shape  of  one  of  the  glaciers  to  a  glove,  lying  with  the 
palm  downwards.  "It  is  a  gauntlet  of  ice,  which  centuries 
ago  Winter,  the  king  of  these  mountains,  threw  down 
in  defiance  to  the  Sun,  and  year  by  year  the  Sun  strives 
in  vain  to  lift  it  from  the  ground  on  the  point  of  his 
glittering  spear."  Aye,  in  vain.  Winter  is  king.  But 
the  Sun  now  and  then  wrenches  somewhat  from  his  grasp. 
And  even  while  we  gazed  speechless  at  the  unearthly 
splendor  of  the  Jungfrau  and  the  Silberhorn  we  heard 
an  avalanche  fall  with  a  crash  like  the  end  of  the  world. 
That  night  we  sat  before  a  roaring  fire  and  wrote  home 
about  it. 

That  was  my  experience  in  midsummer.  Now  we 
were  to  see  not  only  the  great  mountain  tops,  but  the 
whole  country,  in  the  undisputed  grasp  of  Winter.  When 
we  reached  Lucerne,  not  only  the  high  Alps,  but  all  the 
mountains  and  hills,  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  were  cov- 
ered with  snow.  When  we  visited  Thorwaldsen's  cele- 
brated Lion  of  Lucerne  we  found  workmen  with  scaffold- 
ing and  ladders  against  the  cliff,  carefully  boxing  it  in 
with  boards  to  prevent  it  from  being  injured  by  the  freez- 
ing of  water  trickling  down  upon  it  during  the  winter 
now  at  hand.  But  we  were  in  time,  just  in  time,  to  see 
it,  and  we  all  agreed  that  few  monuments  in  Europe  are 
so  impressive.  The  great  figure,  twenty-eight  feet  in 
length,  I  believe,  carved  in  the  living  rock,  represents  the 
king  of  beasts  lying  slain,  pierced  by  an  arrow,  with 
broken  spear  and  shield  beneath,  and  over  that  shield, 
which  bears  the  lilies  of  France,  the  huge  paws  are 
thrown,  as  if  guarding  it  still  in  death.  It  commemorates 


THE  RHINE  AND  THE  ALPS.  243 

the  devotion  of  the  Swiss  guard  who,  in  1792,  were  ap- 
pointed to  keep  the  palace  at  Versailles,  and  receiving  no 
orders  to  retire,  preferred  to  die  at  their  post  rather  than 
betray  their  trust.  The  glacier  gardens  near  by,  with 
their  ingenious  and  realistic  illustration  of  the  action  of 
the  falling  water  in  grinding  the  boulders  in  the  glacier 
pots,  interested  us  greatly.  We  paid  some  attention  to  the 
shops  also,  and  the  old  cathedral,  and  the  quaint  old 
bridges.  But  we  did  not  tarry  long  at  Lucerne.  It  was 
too  cold.  We  took  the  steamer  down  the  lake,  though, 
cold  as  it  was,  for  we  had  no  idea  of  missing  entirely 
the  magnificent  scenery  which  gives  this  body  of  water 
easy  preeminence  among  the  Swiss  lakes.  We  spent  the 
night,  bitter  cold,  at  Fluelen,  then  took  the  fastest  train 
we  could  get  for  Milan,  only  to  meet  there  another  dis- 
appointment in  the  matter  of  the  weather. 

November  26,  1902. 
We  had  seen  the  ice  floating  in  great  blocks 

Italy  Gives 

us  uttie         down  the  Neckar  at  Heidelberg,  and  had 
Relief.  fejt  tfoe  stinging  winds  on  the  hills  above 

the  old  castle ;  we  had  stamped  our  feet  on  the  stone  floors 
of  the  cathedral  at  Strasburg  to  renew  the  circulation 
in  our  benumbed  extremities  while  waiting  for  the  crow- 
ing of  the  rooster  and  the  marching  of  the  puppets,  and 
the  striking  of  the  bells  on  the  famous  clock;  we  had 
seen  vast  fields  of  snow  covering  the  Alps  in  every  direc- 
tion as  we  passed  through  Switzerland,  and  had  shivered 
in  the  searching  cold  as  we  steamed  down  Lake  Lucerne, 
unable  to  tear  ourselves  from  the  glorious  beauty  that 
lay  open  to  our  view  on  every  hand  from  the  steamer's 
decks ;  we  had  caught  the  wintry  glitter  of  gigantic  icicles 
against  the  cliffs  on  either  side  as  our  train  climbed  the 
wild  St.  Gothard  pass  —  and,  in  short,  we  had  had  a 


244  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

surfeit  of  cold  weather,  and  for  days  and  weeks  we  had 
been  sighing  for  Sunny  Italy.  Imagine  our  disappoint- 
ment, then,  when  we  emerged  from  the  Alps  and  entered 
the  land  of  balmy  climate  and  blue  skies  (as  most  of  us 
had  always  ignorantly  thought  it  to  be  even  in  winter) 
to  find  the  whole  world  still  white  around  us,  to  run  along 
the  side  of  Lake  Lugano  and  Lake  Como  in  a  whirling 
snow-storm,  and  to  arrive  at  Milan  in  a  fog  so  thick  that 
it  looked  like  it  could  be  cut  into  blocks,  so  opaque  that  at 
times  we  could  not  see  the  mighty  Cathedral  from  our 
hotel,  though  but  little  more  than  a  block  away,  and  so 
persistent  that  it  did  not  lift  during  the  whole  of  our 
stay.  Add  to  these  conditions  the  slush  in  the  streets  and 
the  penetrating  quality  of  the  damp,  cold  air,  and  our 
desire  to  push  on  at  once  to  the  farther  south  in  search 
of  more  genial  skies  will  not  seem  unnatural.  And  we 
might  have  done  so,  notwithstanding  the  attraction  of  the 
Cathedral  and  of  Leonardo's  picture  of  the  "Last  Supper" 
(which,  however,  we  expected  to  see  on  our  return  to 
Northern  Italy  in  the  spring),  had  it  not  been  for  our 
anxiety  to  get  a  sight  of  the  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy  at 
Monza,  a  few  miles  north  of  Milan.  And  see  it  we  did, 
in  spite  of  the  weather,  as  I  shall  tell  you  more  fully 
in  a  later  letter.  We  ate  our  Thanksgiving  dinner  at 
Milan,  visited  again  and  again  the  white  marble  Cathe- 
dral, whose  delicate  stone  lace  work  was  touched  into 
marvellous  and  weird  beauty  by  the  snow  clinging  to  its 
pinnacles  and  projections  and  statues,  saw  Leonardo's 
picture,  and  the  other  principal  sights,  and  then  took  the 
train  for  Venice. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
VENICE,  BOLOGNA,  FLORENCE  AND  PISA. 

December  8,  1902. 

HOUGH  still  cool,  the  weather  was  milder  in  Venice, 
so  we  remained  a  week  or  so,  yielding  ourselves  to 
the  pensive  charm  of  that  — 

"White  phantom  city,  whose  untrodden  streets 
Are  rivers,  and  whose  pavements  are  the  shifting 
Shadows  of  palaces  and  strips  of  sky." 

Of  the  palaces  that  we  visited,  the  one  in  which  the  poet 
Browning  lived,  and  in  which  his  son  now  lives,  is  the 
The  Queen  of  best  preserved,  and  illustrates  better  than 
the  Adriatic.  anv  other  the  almost  regal  state  in  which  the 
wealthy  Venetians  lived  in  the  day  of  their  commercial 
supremacy.  One  of  these  old  palaces  on  the  Grand  Canal 
is  now  used  as  a  bank.  Some  are  used  as  warehouses, 
and  others  are  put  to  still  meaner  uses.  The  Doge's 
Palace  is,  of  course,  the  largest  and  finest,  but  it  is  more 
like  a  public  building  than  a  residence.  Next  to  this 
stands  the  chief  architectural  glory  of  Venice,  the  gor- 
geous Cathedral  of  St.  Mark,  with  its  unequalled  pro- 
fusion of  costly  materials,  and  its  ominously  uneven  stone 
floor,  suggesting  the  painful  possibility  that  it,  too,  may 
some  day  share  the  fate  of  the  great  Campanile,  which 
till  last  summer  lifted  its  head  three  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  feet  in  the  air  from  the  pavement  of  the  square  in 
front.  We  found  the  ruins  of  this  graceful  structure,  up 
the  winding  incline  of  which  Napoleon  Bonaparte  is  said 
to  have  ridden  his  horse  to  the  belfry,  lying  in  a  heap 


246  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

on  the  square  surrounded  by  a  temporary  unpainted  board 
fence.  Workmen  within  were  making  preparations  for 
the  erection  of  the  new  bell  tower  which  is  to  take  the 
place  of  the  old  one.  On  the  first  Sunday  after  our  arrival 
we  heard  the  Rev.  Dr.  Robertson,  at  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  make  felicitous  use  of  the  fate  of  the  old  Cam- 
panile in  a  sermon  on  the  text,  "Other  foundation  can  no 
man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ."  No- 
where are  foundations  of  more  importance  than  in  Venice. 
The  whole  city  is  built  upon  piles.  The  Rialto  Bridge, 
a  great  marble  arch  of  a  single  span,  rests  upon  twelve 
thousand  of  these  piles,  which  are  driven  deep  into  the 
mud. 

The  interior  of  the  Church  of  the  Jesuits  made  more 
impression  upon  us  than  any  other  Venetian  church  except 
St.  Marks.  It  looks  at  first  view  like  it  was  lined  through- 
out with  chintz,  through  which  runs  a  green  pattern ;  but 
on  closer  inspection  you  find  that  it  is  all  white  marble  — 
the  pulpit  and  its  heavy  curtains,  the  altar  steps,  the  walls 
from  floor  to  ceiling,  are  all  of  white  marble,  and  the 
green  pattern  is  nothing  less  than  verd  antique. 

Some  of  our  young  people,  who  had  already  wearied 
of  the  miles  of  picture  galleries  in  Europe,  manifested 
but  little  interest  in  the  rich  collection  of  art  at  Venice, 
but  I  think  that  all  brought  away  an  indelible  impression 
of  Titian's  splendid  "Assumption  of  the  Virgin."  They 
felt  a  much  keener  interest  in  the  marvellous  skill  of  the 
Venetian  glass-makers  at  Murano.  But  their  special  de- 
light was  the  gondolas.  They  soon  had  their  favorites 
among  the  gondoliers,  and,  with  Marco  and  Pedro  pro- 
pelling them,  threaded  the  innumerable  canals  in  every 
direction,  visited  the  outlying  islands,  drifted  hither  and 
thither  on  the  broad  lagoons,  and  enjoyed  the  distant 
views  of  this  strangely  beautiful  city,  sometimes  looming 


VENICE,  BOLOGNA,  FLORENCE,  PISA.    247 

through  the  mist,  at  other  times  standing  out  sharp  and 
clear  against  the  red  sky  of  a  flaming  sunset. 
The  Greatest  of  Nothing  in  all  the  strange  history  of  Venice 
the  Venetians,  interested  us  so  much  as  the  career  of  Fra 
Paolo  Sarpi,  "the  greatest  of  the  Venetians,"  as  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Robertson  well  calls  him  in  his  striking  biography 
of  that  illustrious  thinker  and  man  of  action.  An  eccle- 
siastic whom  Gibbon  calls  "the  incomparable  historian  of 
the  Council  of  Trent" ;  a  mathematician  of  whom  Galileo 
said,  "No  man  in  Europe  surpasses  Master  Paolo  Sarpi 
in  his  knowledge  of  the  science  of  mathematics";  an 
anatomist  whom  Acquapendente,  the  famous  surgeon  of 
Padua,  calls  "the  oracle  of  this  century" ;  a  metaphysician 
who,  as  Lord  Macaulay  says,  anticipated  "Locke  on  the 
Human  Understanding";  and  a  statesman  who  saved 
Venice  from  the  domination  of  the  papacy  —  it  is  no  won- 
der that  Dr.  Bedell,  chaplain  of  the  English  Ambassador 
to  Venice,  should  have  said  that  he  was  "holden  for  a 
miracle  in  all  manner  of  knowledge,  divine  and  human." 
"As  a  statesman,  the  great  Republic  of  Venice  committed 
all  its  interests  to  his  guidance,  and  he  made  its  history, 
while  he  lived,  an  unbroken  series  of  triumphs ;  in  an 
age  when  the  papacy  lifted  high  its  head,  and  rode  rough- 
shod over  the  rights  of  kings  and  peoples,  he  forced  Pope 
Paul  V.,  one  of  the  haughtiest  of  Rome's  Pontiffs,  to  his 
knees,  and  so  shattered  in  his  hands  the  weapon  of  inter- 
dict and  excommunication  that  never  again  has  it  served 
the  interest  of  a  wearer  of  the  tiara.  Constitutional  gov- 
ernment everywhere  owes  something  to  Fra  Paolo;  and 
modern  Italian  history  is  the  outcome  and  embodiment 
of  the  principles  he  laid  down  in  his  voluminous  State 
papers.  He  was  stronger  than  the  papacy,  for,  in  spite 
of  the  hatred,  persecution  and  protest  of  Pope  and  Curia, 
he  lived  and  died  within  the  pale  of  the  church,  enjoying 


248  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

the  esteem  and  affection  of  its  clergy,  performing  all  his 
priestly  duties,  and  receiving,  as  the  Senate  wrote  in  its 
circular  announcing  his  death  to  the  courts  of  Europe, 
'Li  santissimi  sagramenti  con  ogni  maggior  pieta.'  And 
he  was  stronger  than  the  Republic,  for  immediately  after 
his  death  it  began  to  succumb  to  papal  domination,  and 
to  totter  to  its  fall." 

We  visited  the  Servite  Monastery,  where  he  lived,  the 
bridge  where  he  was  set  upon  and  stabbed  by  the  Pope's 
hired  assassins,  and  where  his  statue  now  stands,  and  the 
grave  in  the  island  cemetery  of  Venice  where  his  body 
rests  at  last  after  all  the  strange  adventures  and  removals 
made  necessary  by  the  ghoulish  malice  of  his  foes. 

December  10,  1902. 

Bologna,  The  business  activity  of  Bologna  is  in  sharp 

the  Fat.  contrast  with  the  stagnation  and  decay  of 
Venice.  It  is  a  brisk  and  handsome  city,  with  well-paved 
streets,  flanked  by  arcades  like  those  along  the  Rue  de 
Rivoli  in  Paris.  Bologna  has  an  unequalled  number  of 
these  colonnades.  They  are  so  continuous,  indeed,  and 
afford  such  perfect  protection  from  the  sun  in  summer 
and  the  rain  in  winter,  that  it  is  more  nearly  possible  to 
dispense  with  umbrellas  here  than  in  any  other  city  in  the 
world.  The  greatest  of  these  covered  ways  is  the  portico 
which  winds  up  the  mountain  just  outside  the  city,  by 
an  easy  gradation,  to  the  costly  church  of  the  Madonna 
di  S.  Lucca,  which,  as  its  name  indicates,  possesses  an 
image,  of  the  Virgin  said  to  have  been  the  work  of  Saint 
Luke.  There  are  no  fewer  than  six  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  arches  in  this  colonnade,  and  they  command  lovely 
views  on  either  side,  as  one  ascends;  but  the  view  from 
the  church,  at  the  top  of  the  mountain,  caps  the  climax, 
combining,  as  it  does,  Alps,  Appennines,  Adriatic,  plains 


VENICE,  BOLOGNA,  FLORENCE,  PISA.    249 

and  cities.  It  is  from  the  arches  of  this  long  colonnade 
up  the  mountain  that  one  gets  the  best  impression  of 
Bologna's  towers.  They  are  very  numerous,  and  many 
of  them  are  out  of  the  perpendicular.  In  fact,  there  are 
more  leaning  towers  here  than  in  any  other  city  in  the 
world.  But,  unlike  "Pisa's  leaning  miracle,"  these  "are 
not  beautiful.  They  are  imposing  only  in  the  grouping 
of  a  distant  view,  being  nothing  but  quadrangular  masses 
of  ugly  brown  brick,  with  no  ornaments,  no  windows, 
and  indeed  no  known  uses,  the  object  for  which  they  were 
erected  being  now  an  insoluble  mystery. 

Bologna  has  important  manufactures  of  silk  goods, 
velvet,  crape,  chemicals,  paper,  musical  instruments,  soap 
and  sausages.  We  made  full  trial  of  the  last  two  men- 
tioned commodities,  and  found  them  excellent.  But  Bo- 
logna, while  vital  and  modern,  is  not  lacking  in  the  matter 
of  antiquity  and  literary  and  historical  interest.  It  boasts 
the  oldest  university  in  the  world,  founded  in  425  A.  D. 
In  the  thirteenth  century  it  had  ten  thousand  students, 
and  it  still  has  over  a  thousand.  In  front  of  the  Univer- 
sity stands  a  statue  of  Galvani,  holding  a  tablet  on  which 
he  is  exhibiting  the  famous  frog  legs.  But  it  is  said  that 
"his  wife  was  the  real  discoverer  of  galvanism,  having 
laid  some  frogs,  which  she  was  preparing  for  soup,  beside 
a  charged  electrical  machine;  and  it  was  she  who  ob- 
served the  convulsion  in  the  frogs  which  she  touched  with 
the  scalpel,  and  communicated  the  discovery  to  her  hus- 
band, who  repeated  the  experiment  at  the  University." 

December  15,  1902. 

The  Flower  of      Florence !    "City  of  fair  flowers,  and  flower 

Fair  cities,    of  fair  cities !"    Second  only  to  Rome  itself 

in  variety  and  wealth  of  historical,  artistic  and  literary 

interest,  home  of  Dante  and  Boccacio,  Machiavelli  and 

17 


250  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

the  Medici,  Galileo  and  Amerigo  Vespucci,  Savonarola 
and  Fra  Angelico,  Cimabue,  Giotto,  Brunelleschi,  Ghi- 
berti,  Donatello,  Michelangelo  and  Benvenuto  Cellini  — 
what  can  one  do  in  a  letter  like  this  but  merely  name  them 
and  pass  on,  hoping  for  a  time  of  larger  leisure  to  say  at 
least  a  word  concerning  the  most  illustrious  of  them? 

In  the  Uffizi  Gallery,  which  is  "a  complete  exempli- 
fication of  the  progress  and  development  of  art,"  there 
is  an  octagonal  room,  called  the  Tribune,  which  contains 
perhaps  the  richest  aggregation  of  masterpieces  in  the 
world.  Sculpture  is  represented  by  the  Venus  de  Medici, 
the  Young  Apollo,  The  Wrestlers,  The  Grinder,  and  The 
Dancing  Faun ;  and  painting  by  no  less  remarkable  pic- 
tures. In  addition  to  these,  the  things  that  stand  out  in 
one's  memory  in  connection  with  Florence  are  Cellini's 
"Perseus,"  Ghiberti's  "Doors,"  Michael  Angelo's  "David" 
and  his  "Lorenzo  de  Medici,"  Brunelleschi's  "Dome,"  and 
last,  but  not  least,  Giotto's  "Tower,"  "the  model  and 
mirror  of  perfect  architecture,"  of  which  John  Ruskin 
says:  "The  characteristics  of  Power  and  Beauty  occur 
more  or  less  in  different  buildings  —  some  in  one  and 
some  in  another.  But  all  together,  all  in  their  highest 
possible  relative  degrees,  they  exist,  as  far  as  I  know, 
only  in  one  building  in  the  world  —  the  Campanile  of 
Giotto  at  Florence."  For  the  proper  appreciation  of 
almost  any  other  great  production  of  art  some  education 
in  art  is  necessary,  but  any  one  can  see  the  transcendant 
beauty  of  Giotto's  "Tower."  Untutored  as  we  are  in 
these  matters,  we  never  wearied  of  looking  at  it. 

In  the  freshness  of  its  undimmed  splendor,  there  is 
nothing  in  Florence  to  compare  with  the  Medici  Chapel. 
It  is  still  unfinished,  but  has  cost  up  to  the  present  time 
three  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  is  probably 
the  most  magnificent  mausoleum  in  the  world.  "The  walls 


VENICE,  BOLOGNA,  FLORENCE,  PISA.    251 

are  covered   with   costly  marbles,   inlaid   with   precious 
stones  —  a  gorgeous  mosaic  of  the  richest  material." 

The  Reformer  But'  after  all>  the  thing  that  lays  deepest 
before  the  hold  of  us  in  Florence  is  the  story  of  Savon- 
arola, Harbinger  of  the  Reformation  and 
Martyr  for  the  Truth.  That  little  cell  in  the  Monastery 
of  San  Marco,  where  he  once  lived,  and  where  his  manu- 
script sermons,  his  annotated  books  and  his  wooden  cru- 
cifix are  still  shown;  those  fearful  dungeons  in  the 
Palazzo  Vecchio,  where  the  greatest  man  of  his  age  en- 
dured his  forty  days'  imprisonment,  and  lay  during  the 
intervals  of  torture,  and  spent  his  last  hours  on  earth; 
and  the  bustling  Piazza  Delia  Signoria,  which  witnessed 
the  triumphant  tragedy  of  May  23,  1498  —  Florence  has 
nothing  else  so  impressive  as  these.  We  visit  them  with 
subdued  hearts  and  reverent  spirits.  "On  the  22nd  of 
May,  1498,  it  was  announced  to  Savonarola  and  his 
friends,  Domenico  and  Maruffi,  that  they  were  to  be 
executed  by  five  the  next  morning;  our  heroic  preacher 
was  thoroughly  resigned  to  his  share  of  the  doom,  saying 
to  Domenico,  'Knowest  thou  not  it  is  not  permitted  to  a 
man  to  choose  the  mode  of  his  own  death?'  The  three 
friends  partook  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Holy  Supper, 
administered  by  Savonarola.  He  said,  'We  shall  soon 
be  there,  where  we  can  sing  with  David,  "Behold  how 
good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together 
in  unity !"  '  They  were  then  taken  to  the  tribunal,  where 
they  were  divested  of  all  their  priestly  decorations,  during 
which  the  bishop  took  Savonarola  by  the  hand,  saying, 
'Thus  I  exclude  thee  from  the  church  militant  and  tri- 
umphant.' 'From  the  church  militant  thou  mayest/  ex- 
claimed Savonarola,  'but  from  the  church  triumphant 
thou  canst  not;  that  does  not  belong  to  thee.'  .  .  . 
The  last  that  was  beheld  of  him  was  his  hand  uplifted 


252  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

as  if  to  bless  the  people;  the  last  that  was  heard  of  him, 
'My  Saviour,  though  innocent,  willingly  died  for  my  sins, 
and  should  I  not  willingly  give  up  this  poor  body  out  of 
love  to  him?'  The  cinders  of  the  bodies  of  the  martyred 
friars  were  carted  away,  and  thrown  into  the  river  Arno." 
But  — 

"The  Avon  to  the  Severn  runs, 

The  Severn  to  the  sea; 
And  Wycliffe's  dust  shall  spread  abroad, 

Wide  as  the  waters  be." 

What  the  principles  of  Wycliffe  have  done  for  England, 
the  principles  of  Savonarola  may  yet  do  for  Italy.  At 
any  rate,  his  work  for  Italy  is  not  done  yet. 

December  19,  1902. 

Pita's  Four  The  four  chief  objects  of  interest  at  Pisa 
Monuments.  are  au  jn  a  group  at  the  northern  end  of 
the  town,  and  a  wonderfully  effective  group  it  is:  the 
cloistered  cemetery,  or  Camp  Santo,  with  its  fifty-five 
ship-loads  of  earth  from  the  Holy  Land;  the  Baptistery, 
with  its  remarkable  echo ;  the  Cathedral,  with  the  pendent 
lamp  in  the  nave  which  suggested  to  Galileo  the  idea  of 
the  pendulum ;  and  that  wonder  of  the  world,  the  white 
marble  Tower,  which  leans  thirteen  feet  out  of  the  per- 
pendicular. We  all  tried  in  vain  to  stand  with  heels  and 
back  to  the  inside  of  the  north  wall  on  the  ground  floor  — 
it  cannot  be  done ;  one  falls  forward  at  once.  From  the 
top  there  is  a  magnificent  view  of  the  city  and  the  sur- 
rounding plain,  of  the  mountains  on  the  east  and  the 
sea  on  the  west,  of  the  city  of  Leghorn  and  the  island 
of  Elba. 

From  the  windows  of  our  hotel  at  Pisa  we  saw  for 
the  first  time  the  red  gold  of  ripe  oranges  shining  amid 
their  dark  green  leaves  in  the  gardens,  and  rejoiced  to 


VENICE,  BOLOGNA,  FLORENCE,  PISA..   253 

think  that  at  last  we  had  reached  a  somewhat  milder 
climate,  and  were  now  leaving  rigorous  winter  behind  us. 
The  journey  from  Pisa  to  Rome  is  a  long  one,  and  the 
schedule  was  such  that  we  did  not  arrive  till  late  at  night. 
From  the  car  windows  we  had  some  impressive  views 
of  the  Mediterranean  by  moonlight,  and  of  the  solemn 
campagna,  and,  thus  prepared,  we  crossed  the  Tiber  at 
midnight,  and  passed  through  the  breach  in  the  walls 
which  has  been  made  for  the  railway,  feeling,  perhaps 
even  more  deeply  than  is  usual,  the  thrill  with  which  all 
travellers  except  those  who  are  utterly  devoid  of  imagina- 
tion first  enter  the  Eternal  City. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
SOME  LITTLE  ADVENTURES  BY  THE  WAY. 

December  21,  1902. 

THE  margin  of  leisure  left  to  a  traveller  in  Europe 
for  the  writing  of  letters  is,  after  all,  a  very  narrow 
one,  as  those  of  my  readers  who  have  been  abroad  will 
readily  remember.     One  generally  moves  from  place  to 
place  in  such  rapid  succession  that  the  feel- 

Conditions  -    ,     .  ,     ,          ,  .    ,      . 

unfavorable  to   mg"  0*  being  settled,  which  is  essential  to 
Letter-writing    the  most  satisfactory  writing,  is  almost  un- 
known.    Then,  when  one  does  stop  for  a 
few  days  in  a  historic  city,  each  day  is  so  full  of  interest, 
and  the  golden  opportunity  to  see  its  sights  seems  so  fleet- 
ing, that  one  hesitates  to  take  any  part  of  such  time  for 
writing,  to  say  nothing  of  the  weariness  and  drowsiness 
of  an  evening  that  follows  a  day  of  sight-seeing. 

Add  to  this  the  amount  of  time  required  of  one  who 
acts  as  general  director  of  the  tour,  and  has  to  take  ac- 
count of  all  manner  of  business  details,  and  the  number 
of  questions  to  be  answered  when  there  are  three  or  four 
young  people  in  the  party  who  have  read  just  enough 
general  history  to  make  their  minds  bristle  with  interroga- 
tions at  every  interesting  place,  and  who  have  to  be  read 
to  daily  en  masse  on  the  spot  in  order  to  improve  the 
psychological  moment  of  excited  curiosity;  add  also  the 
physician's  injunction  to  take  abundance  of  exercise  in 
the  open  air,  in  order  to  the  full  recovery  of  health  and 
the  laying  up  of  strength  for  future  work,  and  his  earnest 
counsel  not  to  linger  much  at  a  writing  desk  or  a  study 


SOME  LITTLE  ADVENTURES.  255 

table  —  and  it  will  be  seen  that  if  the  continuity  of  this 
series  of  letters  suffers  an  occasional  break,  it  is  but  the 
natural  result  of  the  conditions  of  tourist  life. 

An  American  **  "^  mtefest  SOme  °f  my  yOUnger  readers 

Baby  in  to  know  that  the  member  of  our  party  who 

receives  the  most  attention  is  a  little  blue- 
eyed  girl,  just  two  years  old  to-day,  who  is  the  most 
extraordinary  traveller  of  her  age  that  I  ever  saw  or 
ever  heard  of,  accepting  all  the  irregularities,  inconveni- 
ences and  discomforts  of  this  migratory  mode  of  life  with 
the  serene  indifference  of  a  veteran.  We  naturally  sup- 
posed that,  being  so  young,  she  would  give  us  more  or 
less  trouble  on  so  long  a  journey,  and  this  proved  to  be 
true  on  the  cold  and  rough  sea  voyage,  but,  from  the 
day  that  we  landed  on  this  side  of  the  ocean,  she  has  been 
a  delight  to  our  whole  party,  a  maker  of  friends  wherever 
we  have  gone,  and  an  immensely  interesting  object  to  the 
populace  of  the  cities  through  which  we  have  passed.  At 
Leyden,  in  Holland,  as  we  passed  along  the  streets,  we 
were  followed  all  over  town  by  an  admiring  throng  of 
Dutch  children,  just  out  of  school,  to  whom  our  baby's 
bright  red  coat  and  cap  were  no  less  interesting  than  their 
wooden  shoes  were  to  us;  and  so  we  found  out  how  the 
elephants  and  monkeys  and  musicians  and  other  people 
who  make  up  the  street  parade  of  a  circus  may  be  sup- 
posed to  feel  when  they  pass  through  a  town  followed 
by  the  motley  gang  of  school  boys,  ragamuffins,  and  gen- 
eral miscellanies  of  humanity. 

At  Wiesbaden,  in  Germany,  we  bought  one 

Something 

New  in  of  those  odd  little  German  baby  carts  with 

Venice.          two    wneeis   and   two   handles,   like   plow 

handles,  between  which  the  person  who  pushes  it  walks, 

the  baby  really  riding  backwards,  instead  of  forwards,  as 

in  our  American  baby  carriages.    You  will  see  from  this 


256  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

description  that  German  baby  carriages  are  like  the  Ger- 
man language — all  turned  the  wrong  way,  though  it  must 
be  said  for  this  arrangement  that  the  baby  is  not  so  likely 
to  be  lonesome  as  when  riding  face  forward,  since  she 
always  has  some  one  to  look  at.  Well,  at  Venice,  which 
is  almost  a  dead  town  now,  so  far  as  business  is  con- 
cerned, and  which  has  perhaps  as  large  a  leisure  class  — 
that  is,  street  loafers  —  as  any  city  of  equal  size  on  this 
terraqueous  planet,  a  lady  of  our  party  essayed  to  take 
the  baby  out  for  an  airing  in  her  German  cart.  It  would 
appear  that  it  was  the  first  time  since  the  foundation  of 
that  pile-driven  city  in  the  sea  that  a  pair  of  wheels  was 
ever  seen  on  her  streets.  At  any  rate,  from  the  moment 
that  the  lady  and  the  baby  and  the  cart  emerged  from 
the  hotel  door  they  were  attended  by  an  ever-increasing 
throng  of  unwashed  Venetians,  whose  interest  could  not 
have  been  keener  had  Santos  Dumont's  air-ship  or  a  Japa- 
nese jinriksha  suddenly  appeared  in  their  gondola-ridden 
town,  and  who  commented  in  shrill  Italian  on  this  wheeled 
apparition.  The  lady  is  not  easily  beaten  when  she  decides 
to  do  anything,  but,  after  standing  that  for  half  a  block 
or  so,  she  made  a  hasty  retreat  to  the  hotel,  and  wheels 
disappeared,  probably  forever,  from  the  streets  of  Venice. 
Gondolas  and  Although  Venice,  with  its  population  of 
Gondoliers.  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  thousand,  is 
seven  miles  in  circumference,  and  is  divided  by  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-six  canals  into  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
islands,  yet  these  are  so  joined  together  by  means  of  four 
hundred  bridges  that  it  is  possible  to  walk  all  over  the 
city.  But  the  bridges  are  built  in  steps,  and  cannot  be 
used  by  wheeled  vehicles.  There  are  no  horses  or  car- 
riages of  any  kind.  The  funereal-looking  gondola,  always 
painted  black,  is  the  only  conveyance  upon  these  streets 
of  water,  and  does  duty  for  cab,  omnibus,  wagon,  cart, 


SOME  LITTLE  ADVENTURES.  257 

wheelbarrow  and  hearse.  It  is  used  for  pleasure  riding, 
shopping,  church-going,  theatre-going,  visiting,  carrying 
prisoners  to  jail,  carrying  the  dead  to  the  cemetery  —  in 
short,  for  everything. 

In  propelling  this  black  but  graceful  and  easy-going 
boat,  the  gondolier  does  not  sit.  He  stands,  on  a  sort 
of  deck  platform  towards  the  stern,  and  to  balance  his 
weight  there  is  affixed  to  the  prow  a  heavy  piece  of  shin- 
ing steel,  which  rears  itself  at  the  front  almost  like  a 
figure-head,  only  this  is  always  of  the  same  pattern,  sim- 
ply a  broad,  upright  blade  of  steel,  notched  deeply  on  the 
front  edge.  The  gondolier  does  not  pull  the  oar,  he  pushes 
it  —  there  is  only  one  oar  —  and  he  does  not  change  it 
from  side  to  side,  as  in  paddling  a  canoe,  but  makes  all 
the  strokes  on  one  side,  a  thing  that  looks  very  easy,  but 
is  in  fact  extremely  difficult.  The  dexterity  of  these  men 
with  their  long  single  oar  is  wonderful.  They  glide  in 
and  out  among  scores  of  gondolas  on  the  crowded  canals 
without  collision  or  jerking,  and  they  turn  a  corner  within 
an  inch. 

Baggage  Smash-  These  remarks  upon  the  skill  of  the  gondo- 
ing  in  Europe.  ijers>  an(j  the  ease  and  safety  of  the  gon- 
dolas, remind  me,  by  contrast,  of  the  destructive  bungling 
of  a  porter  in  Cologne,  who  undertook  to  cart  a  load  of 
trunks  and  handbags  and  shawl-straps  down  from  our 
hotel  to  the  Rhine  steamer,  and  who,  in  turning  a  corner 
on  a  down  grade,  made  the  turn  too  short,  and  hurled 
the  whole  lot  of  our  belongings  into  the  muddy  street 
with  such  violence  that  many  of  them  were  defaced,  some 
permanently  damaged,  and  one  valise  broken  to  pieces 
and  utterly  ruined. 

That  German  baby  carriage  had  an  exciting  adventure 
also  on  the  night  of  our  arrival  in  Rome.  As  usual,  it 
was  made  the  apex  of  the  pyramid  of  trunks  and  grip- 


258  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

sacks  which  constitute  our  sign  manual,  so  to  speak,  on 
the  top  of  every  omnibus  that  takes  us  from  the  station 
to  the  hotel;  but  in  this  instance  it  was  carelessly  left 
untied,  so  that  as  we  went  steeply  down  one  of  the  seven 
hills  of  Rome,  the  cart  tumbled  from  its  high  perch  to  the 
stone-paved  street,  snapping  off  one  of  the  handles,  and 
suffering  sundry  other  shattering  experiences.  A  few 
days  after  we  had  the  pleasure  of  paying  a  fraudulent 
cabinetmaker  more  for  repairing  it  than  it  cost  in  the  first 
instance.  The  Italian  workmen  and  shopkeepers  uni- 
formly charge  you  more  than  their  work  and  goods  are 
worth.  I  think  I  have  had  more  counterfeit  money  passed 
on  me  in  the  short  time  I  have  been  in  Italy  than  I  have 
had  in  all  the  rest  of  my  life  before,  and  the  very  first 
swindle  of  this  kind  to  which  I  was  subjected  was  in  a 
church,  when  the  sacristan  gave  me  a  counterfeit  two- 
franc  piece  in  change  as  I  paid  the  admission  fees  to  see 
certain  paintings  and  sculptures  behind  the  high  altar. 

However,  I  am  wandering  from  my  subject;  I  may 
conclude  my  eulogy  on  the  baby  above  mentioned  by  say- 
ing that,  young  as  she  is,  she  sits  through  the  seventy  or 
eighty  minutes  of  the  customary  tedious  European  dinner 
almost  as  circumspectly  as  a  graven  image  might,  but 
reminding  us  of  one  of  Raphael's  cherubs  in  her  blue- 
eyed  combination  of  sweetness,  archness  and  dignity. 

Next  time  we  will  resume  our  account  of  matters  of 
more  general  interest. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

RELICS  IN  GENERAL,  AND  THE  IRON  CROWN  OF  LOMBARDY 
IN  PARTICULAR. 

ROME,  December  23,  1902. 

I  HAD  heard  of  relics  before.  Years  ago  I  had  read 
Mark  Twain's  account  of  the  large  piece  of  the  true 
cross  which  he  had  seen  in  a  church  in  the  Azores;  and 
of  another  piece  which  he  had  seen  in  the  Cathedral  of 
Notre  Dame  in  Paris,  besides  some  nails  of  the  true  cross 
and  a  part  of  the  crown  of  thorns;  and  of  the  marble 
chest  in  the  Cathedral  of  San  Lorenzo  at  Genoa,  which 
he  was  told  contained  the  ashes  of  St.  John,  and  was 
wound  about  with  the  chain  that  had  confined  St.  John 
when  he  was  in  prison ;  and  of  the  interesting  collection 
shown  him  in  the  Cathedral  of  Milan,  including  two  of 
St.  Paul's  fingers  and  one  of  St.  Peter's,  a  bone  of  Judas 
Iscariot  (black,  not  white),  and  also  bones  of  all  the  other 
disciples  (presumably  of  the  normal  color),  a  handker- 
chief in  which  the  Saviour  had  left  the  impression  of  his 
face,  part  of  the  crown  of  thorns,  a  fragment  of  the  purple 
robe  worn  by  Christ,  a  picture  of  the  Virgin  and  Child 
painted  by  St.  Luke,  and  a  nail  from  the  cross  —  adding 
in  another  place  that  he  thought  he  had  seen  in  all  not 
less  than  a  keg  of  these  nails. 

But  I  had  hardly  taken  Mark  Twain  seriously  in  these 
statements,  not  knowing  at  the  time  that  his  Innocents 
Abroad  was,  notwithstanding  its  broad  humor,  really 
one  of  the  best  guide-books  to  Europe  that  was  ever 
written. 


260  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 


The  Palladium  I  had  read  repeatedly  the  story  of  the  bring- 
of  Venice.  jng  of  St.  Mark's  bones  from  Alexandria, 
in  Egypt,  to  their  present  resting-place  in  St.  Mark's 
Cathedral  at  Venice  —  a  story  which  is  related  as  follows 
in  that  same  lively  volume  : 

"St.  Mark  died  at  Alexandria,  in  Egypt.  He  was 
martyred,  I  think.  However,  that  has  nothing  to  do  with 
my  legend.  About  the  founding  of  the  city  of  Venice  — 
say  four  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  Christ  —  (for 
Venice  is  much  younger  than  any  other  Italian  city),  a 
priest  dreamed  that  an  angel  told  him  that  until  the  re- 
mains of  St.  Mark  were  brought  to  Venice,  the  city  could 
never  rise  to  high  distinction  among  the  nations;  that 
the  body  must  be  captured,  brought  to  the  city,  and  a 
magnificent  church  built  over  it;  and  that  if  ever  the 
Venetians  allowed  the  Saint  to  be  removed  from  his  new 
resting-place,  in  that  day  Venice  would  perish  from  off 
the  face  of  the  earth.  The  priest  proclaimed  his  dream, 
and  forthwith  Venice  set  about  procuring  the  corpse  of 
St.  Mark.  One  expedition  after  another  tried  and  failed, 
but  the  project  was  never  abandoned  during  four  hundred 
years.  At  last  it  was  secured  by  stratagem,  in  the  year 
eight  hundred  and  something.  The  commander  of  the 
Venetian  expedition  disguised  himself,  stole  the  bones, 
separated  them,  and  packed  them  in  vessels  filled  with 
lard.  The  religion  of  Mahomet  causes  its  devotees  to 
abhor  anything  in  the  nature  of  pork,  and  so  when  the 
Christian  was  stopped  at  the  gate  of  the  city,  they  only 
glanced  once  into  the  precious  baskets,  then  turned  up 
their  noses  at  the  unholy  lard,  and  let  him  go.  The  bones 
were  buried  in  the  vaults  of  the  grand  cathedral,  which 
had  been  waiting  long  years  to  receive  them,  and  thus  the 
safety  and  the  greatness  of  Venice  were  secured.  And 
to.  this  day  there  be  those  in  Venice  who  believe  that  if 


RELICS  IN  GENERAL.  261 

those  holy  ashes  were  stolen  away,  the  ancient  city  would 
vanish  like  a  dream,  and  its  foundation  be  buried  forever 
in  the  unremembering  sea." 

The  Gift  of  More  recently  !  had  read  of  what  has  been 

Leo  xni.  well  called  the  burlesque  enacted  at  Arundel 

Castle  no  longer  ago  than  in  July,  1902,  in 

which  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  Cardinal  Vaughan,  and  many 

lesser  ornaments  and  dignitaries  of  the  Romish  Church, 

took  part. 

'Tope  Leo  XIIL,  in  order  to  show  his  'good-will  to 
England/  sent  from  Rome  the  remains  of  St.  Edmund 
to  garnish  the  new  Roman  Catholic  cathedral  at  West- 
minster. It  was  an  appropriate  gift,  for  such  buildings 
are  usually  garnished  with  'dead  men's  bones  and  all  un- 
cleanness.'  But  as  the  cathedral  is  not  yet  finished,  as  a 
further  token  of  good-will,  the  relics  were  committed  to 
the  care  of  no  less  a  personage  than  the  Earl  Marshal  of 
England.  They  arrived  at  Arundel  on  the  evening  of 
July  25th,  and  were  placed  for  the  night  in  Fitzalen 
Chapel.  The  next  morning  the  whole  castle  was  astir 
betimes,  for  the  great  event  of  the  day,  the  transference 
of  the  bones  to  the  castle  chapel,  was  to  take  place.  This 
was  accomplished  in  a  solemn  and  befitting  manner.  A 
procession  was  formed,  and,  to  the  measured  tread  of 
the  Earl  Marshal  of  England,  Cardinal  Vaughan,  several 
archbishops  and  bishops,  and  a  mixed  company  of  priests 
and  acolytes  and  a  numerous  train  of  household  servants 
and  dependents,  carrying  banners,  crosses,  crucifixes, 
censers,  lamps,  candles,  torches,  and  other  ecclesiastical 
stage  paraphernalia,  the  remains  of  St.  Edftiund  were 
borne  to  their  resting-place.  All  went  off  well,  and  at 
last  the  curtain  fell  on  the  finished  play,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  every  one.  Unfortunately,  however,  the  Pope  and  all 
concerned  had  to  reckon  with  English  common-sense  and 


262  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

with  English  love  of  truth,  and  it  was  not  very  long  before 
it  was  proved  to  the  world  that  the  bones,  like  most  relics 
of  the  kind,  were  counterfeit  —  whoever  else's  bones  they 
were,  they  were  not  those  of  St.  Edmund."  x 
The  Blood  of  I  had  read  with  cordial  approval  Mark 
st.januarius.  Twain's  animadversions  upon  the  fraud 
which  is  regularly  practiced  on  the  people  of  Naples  by 
the  priests  in  the  Cathedral : 

"In  this  city  of  Naples  they  believe  in  and  support 
one  of  the  wretchedest  of  all  religious  impostures  one  can 
find  in  Italy — -the  miraculous  liquefaction  of  the  blood 
of  St.  Januarius.  Twice  a  year  the  priests  assemble  all 
the  people  at  the  Cathedral,  and  get  out  this  phial  of 
clotted  blood,  and  let  them  see  it  slowly  dissolve  and 
become  liquid;  and  every  day  for  eight  days  this  dismal 
farce  is  repeated,  while  the  priests  go  among  the  crowd 
and  collect  money  for  the  exhibition.  The  first  day  the 
blood  liquefies  in  forty-seven  minutes  —  the  church  is  full 
then,  and  time  must  be  allowed  the  collectors  to  get 
around;  after  a  while  it  liquefies  a  little  quicker  and  a 
little  quicker  every  day,  as  the  houses  grow  smaller,  till 
on  the  eighth  day,  with  only  a  few  dozen  present  to  see 
the  miracle,  it  liquefies  in  four  minutes.2 

"And  here,  also,  they  used  to  have  a  grand  procession 

1  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Italy,  Alexander  Robertson, 
pp.  203,  204. 

1  In  July  of  this  year,  1903,  while  the  Roman  Catholic  world 
was  greatly  exercised  over  the  grave  illness  of  the  late  Pope, 
Leo  XIII.,  the  Associated  Press  dispatches  from  Naples  reported 
that  the  blood  of  St.  Januarius  had  miraculously  liquefied  at  that 
unusual  time  in  token  that  the  prayers  offered  for  the  Pope's 
recovery  had  been  answered.  The  Archbishop  of  Naples  has  up 
to  the  present  time  vouchsafed  no  explanation  of  the  fact  that 
the  Pope  died  a  few  days  later,  notwithstanding  this  miraculous 
assurance  that  he  would  recover. 


RELICS  IN  GENERAL.  263 

of  priests,  citizens,  soldiers,  sailors,  and  the  high  digni- 
taries of  the  city  government,  once  a  year,  to  shave  the 
head  of  a  made-up  Madonna  —  a  stuffed  and  painted 
image,  like  the  milliner's  dummy  —  whose  hair  miracu- 
lously grew  and  restored  itself  every  twelve  months. 
They  still  kept  up  this  shaving  procession  as  late  as  four 
or  five  years  ago.  It  was  a  source  of  great  profit  to  the 
church  that  possessed  the  remarkable  effigy,  and  the 
public  barbering  of  her  was  always  carried  out  with  the 
greatest  eclat  and  display  —  the  more  the  better,  because 
the  more  excitement  there  was  about  it  the  larger  the 
crowds  it  drew  and  the  heavier  the  revenues  it  produced — 
but  at  last  the  day  came  when  the  Pope  and  his  servants 
were  unpopular  in  Naples,  and  the  city  government 
stopped  the  Madonna's  annual  show. 

"There  we  have  two  specimens  of  these  Neapolitans  — 
two  of  the  silliest  possible  frauds,  which  half  the  popula- 
tion religiously  and  faithfully  believed,  and  the  other  half 
either  believed  or  else  said  nothing  about,  and  thus  lent 
themselves  to  the  support  of  the  imposture." 

I  had  read  the  story  of  the  Casa  Santa,  or 

The  House  of  ,      .,  ,.  x,  . 

the  virgin  Holy  House,  the  little  stone  building,  thir- 
at  Loretto.  teen  an(j  one-half  f ect  high  and  twenty-eight 
feet  long,  in  which  the  Virgin  Mary  had  lived  at  Nazareth. 
In  336  the  Empress  Helena,  mother  of  Constantine  the 
Great,  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Nazareth  and  built  a  church 
over  the  Holy  House.  This  church  fell  into  decay  when 
the  Saracens  again  got  the  upper  hand  in  Palestine,  and 
when  the  Christians  lost  Ptolemais  the  Holy  House  was 
carried  by  angels  through  the  air  from  Nazareth  to  the 
coast  of  Dalmatia.  This  miraculous  transportation  took 
place  in  1291.  A  few  years  later  it  was  again  removed 
by  angels  during  the  night,  and  set  down  in  the  Province 
of  Ancona,  near  the  eastern  coast  of  Italy,  on  the  ground 


264  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

of  a  widow  named  Laureta.  Hence  the  name,  Loretto, 
given  to  the  town  which  sprang  up  around  it  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  thousands  of  pilgrims  who  flocked 
thither,  and  which  is  now  a  place  of  some  six  thousand 
inhabitants,  whose  principal  business  is  begging  and  the 
sale  of  rosaries,  medals  and  images.  In  a  niche  inside 
the  Casa  Santa  is  a  small  black  image  of  the  Virgin  and 
Child,  of  cedar,  attributed,  of  course,  to  St.  Luke.  We 
did  not  visit  Loretto,  but  at  Bologna  we  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  seeing  a  fac-simile  of  the  Casa  Santa,  with  its  little 
window  and  fireplace,  and  the  replica  of  St.  Luke's  handi- 
work in  the  niche  above.  A  large  number  of  women,  some 
of  them  handsomely  dressed,  were  saying  their  prayers 
and  counting  their  beads  before  the  altar  that  had  been 
erected  in  front  of  these  images  and  the  Holy  House,  and 
a  few  were  kneeling  in  the  narrow  space  behind  the  altar, 
close  to  the  fireplace  of  the  house.  As  we  passed,  one 
of  these  women,  in  plainer  garb,  interrupted  her  devotions 
long  enough  to  hold  out  her  hand  to  us,  begging  for 
pennies,  but  without  rising  from  her  knees.  There  was 
nothing  unusual  about  this,  except  that  this  beggar  made 
her  appeal  to  us  while  actually  on  her  knees  to  the  image 
of  the  Virgin,  for  nothing  is  more  common  in  Italy  than 
for  visitors  to  a  Roman  Catholic  church  to  pass  through 
such  "an  avenue  of  palms"  when  leaving  it. 

I  had  even  seen  a  few  relics,  not  mere  repro- 
Auctions  like  that  of  the  Casa  Santa  at  Bo- 
of  st.  Anne        logna,  but  the  relics  themselves.  -  For  in- 
stance, three  summers  ago,  when  in  Quebec, 
I  had  made  a  special  trip  to  the  Church  of  St.  Anne 
Beaupre,  some  twenty  miles  below  the  city,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  seeing  the  wonder-working  relics  of  St.  Anne, 
the  alleged  mother  of  the  Virgin  Mary  —  a  bit  of  her 
finger  bone  and  a  bit  of  her  wrist  bone  —  which  are  de- 


THE  IRON  CROWN.  265 

voutly  kissed  and  adored  by  thousands  of  pilgrims  to  this 
magnificent  church  from  all  the  French  and  Irish  portions 
of  Canada,  and  which  are  said  to  have  wrought  miraculous 

cures  of  all  manner  of  maladies,  cures  which  are  attested 

> 

by  two  immense  stacks  of  canes,  crutches,  wooden  legs, 
and  the  like,  which  rise  from  the  floor  almost  to  the  roof 
on  either  side  of  the  entrance.  In  the  store  in  another 
part  of  the  church  I  had  got  a  clue  to  it  all  by  seeing  the 
poor  pilgrims  buying  all  sorts  of  cheap,  tawdry,  worthless 
little  images  and  pictures,  and  especially  little  vials  of 
oil  of  remarkable  curative  virtue  because  it  had  stood  for 
a  while  before  the  image  of  St.  Anne,  and  for  which  they 
paid  probably  five  times  as  much  as  the  oil  had  cost  the 
priests  who  were  selling  it. 

The  iron  crown  These,  then,  are  potent  bones  and  images 
of  Lombardy.  an(j  oiiSj  but  by  far  the  most  interesting  relic 
I  had  seen  before  reaching  Rome  itself  was  the  Iron 
Crown  of  Lombardy,  at  Monza,  a  little  town  in  Northern 
Italy.  This  is  the  place  where  the  good  King  Humbert 
was  assassinated  on  the  2Qth  of  July,  1900,  and  it  is  not 
without  interest  for  other  reasons.  For  instance,  it  has 
a  cathedral  built  of  black  and  white  marble  in  horizontal 
stripes,  and  containing,  besides  the  tomb  of  Queen  The- 
odolinda  and  other  interesting  objects  in  the  nave  and  its 
chapels,  a  great  number  of  costly  articles  of  gold  and 
silver,  set  with  precious  stones,  in  the  treasury,  as  well 
as  various  relics,  such  as  some  of  the  baskets  carried  by 
the  apostles,  a  piece  of  the  Virgin  Mary's  veil,  and  one 
of  John  the  Baptist's  teeth.  But  we  should  never  have 
made  a  special  trip  to  Monza  in  such  weather  as  we  were 
having  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  last  November,  had  it  not 
been  for  our  intense  desire  to  see  its  chief  treasure,  the 
Iron  Crown,  the  most  sacred  and  most  celebrated  diadem 
in  the  world,  a  relic  possessing  real  historical  interest, 

18 


266  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

not  because  of  any  probability  whatever  in  the  story  of 
its  origin,  but  because  of  the  extraordinary  uses  and  asso- 
ciations of  it  within  the  last  thousand  years. 
A  winter  Trip      So,    regardless    of    the    wet,    cold,    foggy 

toMonza.  weather  that  we  found  in  Milan,  and  the 
rivers  of  mud  and  slush  that  were  then  doing  duty  for 
streets,  and  the  splotches  of  snow  that  lay  here  and  there 
in  the  forlorn-looking  olive  orchards,  we  took  the  electric 
tram,  which  was  comfortably  heated,  and  ran  out  to 
Monza,  a  distance  of  some  ten  miles.  When  we  stepped 
into  the  chilly  cathedral  and  looked  about  us,  we  could 
not  at  first  see  anybody  to  show  us  around,  though  there 
were  a  good  many  poor  people  saying  their  prayers  there. 
Evidently  the  custodians  were  not  expecting  tourists  at 
such  a  season  and  in  such  weather.  But  presently,  in  an 
apartment  to  the  left,  we  found  a  number  of  the  priests 
warming  their  hands  over  a  dish  of  twig  coals  covered 
with  a  light  layer  of  white  ashes,  which  they  kindly  stirred 
a  little  to  make  them  give  forth  more  heat  as  they  saw 
us  stretch  our  cold  hands  also  towards  the  grateful 
warmth. 
The  Treasury  of  When  we  asked  if  we  could  see  the  Irons 

the  Cathedral.  Crown,  they  said  we  could;  but  instead  of 
going  at  once  to  the  chapel  in  which  it  is  kept,  they  got 
a  great  bag  of  keys,  large  keys,  thirty-seven  in  number, 
as  the  observant  statistician  of  our  party  ascertained,  and 
led  us  into  the  treasury  and  unlocked  a  great  number  of 
doors  (one  of  which  had  seven  locks),  and  showed  us 
the  costly  objects  and  precious  relics  above  mentioned. 
We  were  only  mildly  interested  in  these  —  even  in  the 
apostolic  baskets,  the  Virgin's  veil,  and  John  the  Baptist's 
tooth — partly  because  we  were  so  cold  and  partly  because 
of  our  greater  interest  in  the  more  famous  relic  which  we 
had  come  especially  to  see. 


THE  IRON  CROWN.  267 

The  chapei  of  At  last  one  of  the  priests,  attended  by  an 
the  Great  Relic.  acoiyte,  took  up  a  censer,  placed  a  little 
incense  on  the  coals  with  a  teaspoon,  and,  swinging  it  in 
his  hand  by  the  chain,  led  us  back  into  the  cathedral, 
turned  to  a  chapel  on  the  left,  unlocked  an  iron  gate  in  a 
tall  railing  which  separated  this  chapel  from  the  body  of 
the  building,  closed  the  gate  again  when  our  party  had 
come  inside,  and,  while  a  dozen  or  so  of  the  people  who 
had  been  at  their  devotions  crowded  up  to  the  railing  and 
peered  curiously  through,  he  and  his  attendant  began  to 
kneel  repeatedly  before  the  altar  and  to  swing  the  smoking 
censer  on  every  side.  Above  the  altar  was  a  strong, 
square  steel  box,  over  which,  in  plain  view,  was  suspended 
a  fac-simile  of  the  Iron  Crown,  made  of  cheaper  mate- 
rials, while  the  real  crown  was  still  concealed  within  the 
steel  safe. 

The  Great  Relic  Handing  the  censer  to  his  attendant,  that  it 
itself.  might  be  kept  swinging  without  intermis- 
sion, the  priest  produced  another  series  of  keys  and  pro- 
ceeded to  unlock  a  succession  of  small  doors  in  the  side 
of  the  metal  safe,  which  proved  to  be  a  "nest"  of  caskets, 
one  within  another,  the  last  of  which  was  a  glass  case. 
Drawing  this  out,  he  brought  into  full  view  the  venerated 
crown  of  the  Lombard  kings,  and  told  us  to  step  up  on 
the  stool  by  the  altar  so  as  to  see  it  better.  It  is  made 
of  six  plates  of  gold,  joined  end  to  end,  richly  chased, 
and  set  with  splendid  jewels.  But  one  would  see  at  a 
glance  that  neither  the  material,  nor  the  workmanship, 
nor  the  gems,  could  account  for  the  unique  reverence 
with  which  it  has  been  regarded  for  centuries,  and  an 
indication  of  which  we  had  just  seen  in  the  service  con- 
ducted by  the  priest.  Among  the  regalia  in  the  Tower 
of  London,  and  at  several  other  places  in  Europe,  we  had 
seen  crowns  which  far  surpassed  this  one  in  costliness 


268  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

and  beauty,  but  none  of  which,  nor  all  of  which  combined, 
had  ever  excited  a  thousandth  part  of  the  interest  attach- 
ing to  this  old  crown  in  Monza. 

why  the  crown  The  explanation  is  this:  within  that  ring 
is  so  sacred.  of  jointed  plates  of  gold  runs  a  thin  band  of 
iron,  which  priestly  tradition  says  was  made  of  one  of  the 
spikes  that  fastened  the  feet  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
to  the  cross.  It  was  this  band  of  iron  that  we  tiptoed 
to  see,  hardly  noticing  the  bejewelled  rim  of  gold  around 
it.  It  was  on  account  of  this  band  of  iron  that  the  priest 
and  his  attendant  swung  their  censer  and  performed  their 
ceremony  as  we  entered.  It  was  this  band  of  iron  that 
gave  to  the  crown  its  sacred  place  above  the  altar.  It 
was  for  the  safe  keeping  of  this  band  of  iron  that  the 
steel  case,  with  its  numerous  locks,  was  made.  It  was 
from  this  band  of  iron  that  the  diadem  received  its  name, 
the  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy. 

And  what  were  the  historical  uses  of  it,  re- 
f  erred  to  above,  which  made  it  so  much 
more  interesting  to  us  than  the  many  other 


so-called  nails  of  the  true  cross  elsewhere? 
Well,  this  among  others  :  on  the  last  Christmas  day  of 
the  eighth  century,  while  Charlemagne  was  kneeling  with 
uncovered  head  before  the  high  altar  of  St.  Peter's  in 
Rome,  the  Pope  approached  him  from  behind,  and, 
placing  the  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy  on  his  head,  hailed 
him  as  Emperor  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 

A  thousand  years  later  on  the  26th  of  May,  1805, 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  "watched  by  an  apparently  invinci- 
ble army  which  adored  him  and  a  world  which  feared 
him,"  standing  in  the  vast  marble  cathedral  at  Milan, 
with  fifteen  thousand  of  his  soldiers  around  him,  lifted 
this  same  Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy  into  their  view,  and 


RELICS  IN  GENERAL.  269 

placed  it  upon  his  brow,  saying,  "God  has  given  it  to  me, 
let  him  touch  it  who  dares!" 

,_  „  _     .        That  men  who,  like  Charlemagne  and  Napo- 

High  Reflections 

and  Hard  Icon,  had  reached  the  highest  pinnacle  of 
human  power,  should  seek  to  enhance  their 
influence  by  crowning  their  heads  with  one  of  the  nails 
which,  as  their  followers  believed,  had  pierced  the  Gali- 
lean's foot,  is  a  richly  suggestive  fact.  But  we  must  keep 
our  tempted  thoughts  to  another  and  less  edifying  line  at 
present. 

When  we  had  examined  all  the  parts  of  the  famous 
crown  to  our  satisfaction,  we  stepped  to  the  desk  in  the 
ante-room  and  paid  our  five  francs  (one  dollar),  the  regu- 
lar price  for  the  exhibition  of  the  Iron  Crown,  then  left 
the  cathedral,  bought  one  or  two  post-card  pictures  of 
the  crown,  and  took  the  tram  through  the  dreary  weather 
back  to  Milan,  well  pleased  with  the  results  of  our  first 
pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  a  real  Roman  Catholic  relic 
in  Italy. 
Rome  caps  But  on  our  arrival  at  Rome,  a  month  later, 

the  ciimax.  we  found  that,  interesting  as  were  the  relics 
which  we  had  seen  or  read  of  elsewhere,  they  were  no- 
thing to  those  in  the  Eternal  City  itself.  In  this,  as  in 
everything  else  except  such  little  matters  as  cleanliness 
and  morality  and  truthfulness  and  honesty,  Rome  outvies 
all  her  rivals.  It  is  only  fair  to  add,  however,  that,  since 
the  overthrow  of  the  papal  sovereignty  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a  capable  government,  Rome  has  improved  im- 
mensely in  the  matter  of  cleanliness,  and  even  her 
immorality  is  not  so  flaunting  as  it  was.  This  is  attested 
by  the  Hon.  Guiseppe  Zanardelli,  the  present  Premier  of 
Italy,  who  says: 

"The  church  appears  better  than  it  once  was.  I  no 
longer  see  in  Rome  what  I  used  often  to  see  in  my  young 


270  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

days,  ladies  driving  about  its  streets  with  their  coachmen 
and  footmen  in  the  liveries  of  their  respective  cardinals. 
Has  this  improvement  come  about  because  the  church  is 
really  growing  better?  Nothing  of  the  kind.  It  is  be- 
cause the  strong  arm  of  the  law  checks  the  villainy  of 
the  priests."  That  is  the  testimony  of  the  Prime  Minister 
of  Italy. 


A  few  weeks  after  my  return  from  Italy, 
DoAmencan  while  driving  one  afternoon  with  a  friend 

Roman 

catholics        of  mine,  a  lawyer  of  high  intelligence  and 
^.eh"v?.in,      wide  information,  our  conversation  turned 

the  Relics  ? 

to  the  subject  of  the  recent  death  of  Pope 
Leo  XIII.,  and  from  that  drifted  to  the  alleged  liquefac- 
tion of  the  blood  of  St.  Januarius,  and  from  that  to  relics 
in  general.  I  mentioned  some  of  the  facts  above  stated 
concerning  the  numerous  pieces  of  the  true  cross  and  the 
miracle-working  bones  and  oils  to  be  seen  in  Roman 
Catholic  churches  in  Europe.  "But,"  he  said,  "surely 
the  Roman  Catholics  in  America  do  not  believe  in  such 
mediaeval  superstitions."  I  happened  to  have  in  hand  a 
couple  of  copies  of  a  daily  newspaper,  published  in  one 
of  our  Southern  towns,  dated  August  9,  1903,  and  August 
17,  1903,  respectively,  containing  extracts  from  the  letters 
of  a  Roman  Catholic  bishop,  the  highest  dignitary  of 
his  church  in  that  State ;  and,  for  answer  to  my  friend's 
remark,  I  cited  the  following  passage  from  the  bishop's 
letter  of  July  loth,  written  from  Munich,  concerning  the 
abbey  church  of  Scheyern: 

"The  chapel  of  the  Holy  Cross  is  specially  sacred,  as 
within  is  preserved  a  very  large  piece  of  the  true  cross 
upon  which  Christ  was  crucified,  brought  to  Scheyern 
in  1156  by  Count  Conrad,  the  Crusader,  who  afterwards 


RELICS  IN  GENERAL.  271 

entered  the  monastery  as  lay-brother,  and  lies  buried  near 
the  altar  upon  which  the  sacred  relic  is  preserved." 

Also  the  following  passage  from  his  letter  of  July 
1 2th,  written  from  Eichstadt: 

"I  remained  the  guest  of  Prince  Ahrenberg  for  the 
night,  and  early  in  the  morning,  accompanied  by  some 
Benedictine  students,  I  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine 
of  St.  Walburg.  Above  the  altar  is  the  large  silver  recep- 
tacle into  which  flows  the  miraculous  oil  from  her  sacred 
relics,  which  is  known  the  world  over." 

What  America  WritinS  fr°m  Vienna,  July  20,  1903,  COn- 
Needs  is  cerning  the  imperial  palaces,  he  says,  "They 
some  Relics.  arg  awfully  big  and  gran(j,  and  cost  a  lot 

of  good  people's  money,"  but  adds  that  "the  pride  and 
glory  of  Vienna"  is  the  Cathedral,  and  then  exclaims: 
"How  often  have  I  wished  we  could  have  some  such 

church  in  ,  so  that  our  good  people  who  cannot 

visit  the  achievements  of  Catholic  life  in  Europe  could 
form  some  idea  of  the  greatness  of  the  religion  of  their 
fathers !" 

One  hesitates  to  differ  from  so  good  an  authority  on 
such  matters  as  this  bishop,  but  really  would  he  not 
agree,  on  reflection,  that  what  this  benighted  and  decaying 
country  of  ours  needs  to  bring  it  up  to  a  level  with  Italy 
and  Austria  and  Spain  is  not  a  big  church,  but  some 
relics  ?  Would  not  some  miraculous  oil,  or  some  wonder- 
working bones,  or  a  piece  of  the  true  cross,  or  one  of  the 
nails,  if  placed  on  exhibition  here  attract  far  more  at- 
tention than  a  big  church,  and  enable  "our  good  people 
who  cannot  visit  the  achievements  of  Catholic  life  in 
Europe"  to  form  a  much  better  "idea  of  the  greatness 
of  the  religion  of  their  fathers"?  Does  it  not  seem 
strange  that  so  many  hundreds  of  these  relics  should  be 
kept  in  those  enlightened  and  happy  countries  like  Italy, 


272  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

where  "the  achievements  of  Catholic  life"  are  so  well 
known,  and  where  Mother  Church  has  for  centuries  had 
full  sway,  and  that  none  of  them  should  be  brought  to 
these  benighted  Protestant  regions,  where  they  could 
effect  such  a  salutary  change  in  the  faith  of  the  people? 
But,  seriously,  as  I  added  to  my  friend  in  the  conversa- 
tion referred  to,  I  have  a  better  opinion  of  the  intelligence 
of  our  good  Roman  Catholic  people  in  America  than  to 
believe  that  they  put  the  slightest  credence  in  these  child- 
ish superstitions.  Whatever  the  bishop  above  quoted  may 
believe,  I  am  confident  that  the  intelligent  Roman  Catholic 
people  of  our  country  have  no  more  faith  in  many  of 
these  alleged  relics  than  we  have. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 
ROMAN  CATHOLIC  RELICS  AT  ROME. 

reached  Rome  at  a  good  time  for  seeing  relics, 
as  the  special  services  of  the  Christmas  sea- 
son were  just  beginning.  One  of  the  most  splendid 
of  these  ceremonies  is  the  procession  in  honor  of  the 
Santa  Culla;  that  is,  the  cradle  in  which  the  priestly 
tradition  says  the  infant  Jesus  was  carried  into  Egypt. 
This  is  the  great  relic  and  chief  distinction  of  the  Church 
of  Santa  Maria  Maggiore,  though  it  contains  a  number 
of  others,  such  as  the  bodies  of  St.  Matthew  and  St. 
Jerome,  and  two  little  bags  of  the  brains  of  Thomas  a 
Becket,  and  "one  of  the  pictures  attributed  to  St.  Luke 
(and  announced  to  be  such  in  a  papal  bull  attached  to 
the  walls  !  )  ,  much  revered  for  the  belief  that  it  stayed  the 
plague  which  decimated  the  city  during  the  reign  of 
Pelagius  II.,  and  that  (after  its  intercession  had  been 
sought  by  a  procession  by  order  of  Innocent  VIII.)  it 
brought  about  the  overthrow  of  the  Moorish  dominion  in 
Spain." 

Moreover,  this  church  of  Santa  Maria  Mag- 

The  Miraculous  .  _  , 

snow  in         giore  is  by  no  means  lacking  in  legendary 
summertime.  an(^  arcnitectural  interest.    It  was  founded 


A.  D.  352,  by  Pope  Liberius  and  John,  a  Roman  patrician, 
to  commemorate  an  alleged  miraculous  fall  of  snow,  which 
covered  this  spot  of  ground  and  no  other,  on  the  5th  of 
August,  and  an  alleged  appearance  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
in  a  vision,  at  the  same  time,  showing  them  that  she 
had  thus  appropriated  the  site  of  a  new  temple,  all  of 
which  is  duly  represented  in  a  fine  painting  on  the  wall 


274  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

of  the  church,  and  in  two  of  Murillo's  most  beautiful 
pictures  in  the  Academy  at  Madrid,  and  commemorated 
every  year  on  the  5th  of  August  by  a  solemn  high  mass, 
and  by  showers  of  white  rose  leaves  thrown  down  con- 
stantly through  two  holes  in  the  ceiling,  "like  a  leafy  mist 
between  the  priests  and  the  worshippers." 
A  splendid  The  worshippers  of  the  Virgin  have  not 

church.  been  lacking  in  their  efforts  to  erect  a  suit- 
ably sumptuous  building  on  the  site  of  this  "miracle." 
The  magnificent  nave,  with  its  avenue  of  forty-two 
columns  of  Greek  marble,  surmounted  by  a  frieze  of 
mosaic  pictures ;  the  glorious  pavement  of  opus  Alexan- 
drinum,  whose  "crimson  and  violet  hues  temper  the  white 
and  gold  of  the  walls";  the  grand  baldacchino,  with  its 
four  porphyry  columns  wreathed  with  gilt  leaves;  and 
the  splendid  tomb  chamber  of  Pius  IX.  (predecessor  of 
the  late  Pope  Leo  XIII.),  with  its  riot  of  rich  marbles 
and  alabaster,  in  front  of  the  high  altar  —  to  say  nothing 
of  the  almost  incredibly  costly  chapels  opening  into  the 
nave  —  combine  to  give  S.  Maria  Maggiore  a  proud  place 
among  the  very  finest  of  the  fine  basilicas  of  Rome. 
A  Dazzling  But  not  all  the  splendors  of  the  building, 

scene.  nor  a\\  j-^g  fascination  of  its  "miracles"  and 

legends,  nor  all  the  spell  of  its  other  relics,  can  equal  the 
interest  attaching  to  the  "SANTA  CULLA/'  the  holy  cradle. 
On  the  afternoon  of  Christmas  Day,  we  walked  through 
the  wet  streets  to  the  front  of  the  church,  pushed  back 
the  heavy,  dirty  screen  of  padded  canvas,  such  as  hangs 
at  the  door  of  every  great  church  in  Italy,  however  fine, 
and,  stepping  within,  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  a 
scene  of  the  most  dazzling  splendor.  The  building  was 
brilliantly  illuminated  with  hundreds  of  electric  lights  and 
huge  candles,  which  were  sharply  reflected  by  the  glisten- 
ing marbles  on  every  hand ;  the  air  was  heavy  with  clouds 


RELICS  AT  ROME.  275 

of  incense,  through  the  blue  smoke  of  which  the  lofty 
ceiling  looked  higher  than  ever,  and  the  organ  and  choir 
were  pouring  forth  the  richest  music,  while  a  dense  crowd 
of  people,  many  thousands,  all  standing,  watched  with 
eager  interest  a  small,  crate-like  object,  made  of  slats  of 
dark  wood,  which  rested  on  the  high  altar,  enclosed  in  a 
glass  case,  with  a  gold  baby  on  top  and  gold  ornaments 
round  about. 
The  Holy  We  pushed  our  way  through  the  crowd,  so 

cradle.  as  to  get  a  satisfactory  view  of  it  while  the 

service  was  in  progress  —  the  genuflections,  the  robing 
and  disrobing  of  the  archbishop,  the  chanting,  and  the 
rest  —  after  which  six  men,  dressed  in  pure  white  from 
head  to  foot  (white  gloves  included),  except  for  a  red 
circle  and  cross  on  the  breast,  knelt  before  the  cradle, 
then  lifted  it  from  the  altar,  with  its  gold  and  glass  set- 
ting, and  placing  it  on  a  kind  of  litter  on  their  shoulders, 
under  a  gilt  and  white  canopy  borne  by  other  attendants, 
marched  with  it  thus,  in  procession  around  the  church, 
along  with  a  large  crucifix  under  another  canopy,  and 
followed  by  a  long  line  of  cardinals,  bishops,  priests  and 
acolytes,  carrying  it  back  finally  to  its  place  in  the  sacristy, 
where  it  will  remain  till  next  Christmas  Day. 

We  squeezed  our  way  through  the  great 
hCorRome         crowd  at  the  door,  and  walked  back  to  our 

a  Babe  or  hotel,  wondering  to  what  extent  the  usual 
Roman  Catholic  conception  of  Christ  had 
deprived  that  organization  of  real  spiritual  energy;  for, 
almost  invariably,  Roman  Catholic  art  represents  him 
either  as  a  dead  Christ  on  the  cross,  or  a  babe  in  his 
mother's  arms,  and  hardly  ever  as  the  risen  and  glorified 
Lord,  the  Conqueror  of  death,  the  Leader  of  his  people, 
to  whom  all  power  is  given  in  heaven  and  on  earth  —  the 
more  usual  Protestant  conception.  And  we  asked  our- 


276  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

selves  whether  this  difference  did  not  help  to  explain  the 
greater  hopefulness,  vigor  and  growth  of  Protestant 
Christianity  in  these  strenuous  latter  days. 

But  we  were  soon  to  learn  that  the  Roman 
ethatOwn°s  Catholics  did  not  think  of  the  infant  Christ 
a  Large  as  lacking  in  power  of  a  certain  sort;  on 

the  contrary  they  ascribe  miraculous  agency 
even  to  an  image  of  the  divine  babe.  On  the  afternoon 
of  December  29th,  as  two  of  our  party  were  returning  to 
our  hotel,  they  passed  at  the  foot  of  the  Capitoline  Hill 
a  carriage,  out  of  the  window  of  which  hung  a  ribbon 
or  sash  of  cloth  of  gold,  and  they  were  not  a  little  aston- 
ished to  observe  that,  as  this  carriage  rolled  along,  people 
knelt  reverently  before  it  on  the  street.  Inside  they  saw 
two  bareheaded  men  holding  a  child  on  a  pillow  with  a 
wealth  of  lace  about  it.  They  thought  perhaps  it  was 
the  royal  carriage  with  the  baby  princess,  but  they  could 
not  imagine  why  men  should  be  nursing  the  baby,  as  that 
is  usually  the  employment  of  women,  nor  why  the  people 
should  kneel  so  reverently  before  the  young  princess,  a 
thing  which  they  never  did  even  for  the  king  himself. 
The  fact  is  that,  as  they  learned  on  the  following  after- 
noon when  visiting  the  Church  of  Ara  Coeli,  on  the 
Capitoline  Hill,  the  carriage  in  question  belonged  to  a 
far  more  important  personage  in  Rome  than  any  princess, 
though  that  personage  was  not  even  a  living  baby,  but 
only  a  doll.  It  was  the  coach  of  the  famous  Bambino  — 
//  Santissimo  Bambino  —  which  with  its  dress  of  gold  and 
silver  tissue  and  its  magnificent  diamonds,  emeralds  and 
rubies,  is  the  chief  attraction  of  this  church. 

Dr.  Alexander  Robertson,  in  his  book  on 
"power  of^he  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Italy,  says : 
Miraculous  "The  Bambino  is  a  doll  about  three  feet 

Bambino.  ,  •    ,  «    .,  j  ...  . 

high,  and  it  stands  on  a  cushion  in  a  glass 


THE  BAMBINO. 


RELICS  AT  ROME.  277 

case.  It  is  clad  in  rich  robes  with  a  crown  on  its  head, 
a  regal  order  across  its  breast,  and  embroidered  slippers 
on  its  feet.  From  head  to  foot  it  is  one  mass  of  dazzling 
jewelry,  gold  chains,  strings  of  pearls,  and  diamond  brace- 
lets and  rings,  which  not  only  cover  the  neck,  arms  and 
fingers,  but  are  suspended,  intermixed  with  crosses,  stars, 
hearts,  monograms,  and  every  kind  of  precious"  stone,  to 
all  parts  of  its  body.  The  only  part  unweighted  with 
gems  is  its  round,  priest-like,  wax  face.  But  all  this  dis- 
play of  wealth,  great  in  itself,  is  really  only  suggestive 
of  that  untold  quantity  which  it  has  brought,  and  is  still 
daily  bringing,  into  the  coffers  of  the  church.  People 
are  continually  kneeling  before  this  dumb  idol,  offering 
petitions  and  leaving  gifts,  whilst  letters  containing  re- 
quests, accompanied  with  post-office  orders  and  checks 
to  pay  for  the  granting  of  the  same,  arrive  by  post  for 
it  from  various  parts  of  the  globe." 

Hare's  Walks  in  Rome  gives  the  following  account  of 
the  Bambino  and  one  of  its  most  remarkable  experiences : 

"It  has  servants  of  its  own,  and  a  carriage  in  which 
it  drives  out  with  its  attendants,  and  goes  to  visit  the  sick ; 
for,  though  an  infant,  it  is  the  oldest  medical  practitioner 
in  Rome.  Devout  peasants  always  kneel  as  the  blessed 
infant  passes.  Formerly  it  was  taken  to  sick  persons  and 
left  on  their  beds  for  some  hours,  in  the  hope  that  it  would 
work  a  miracle.  Now  it  is  never  left  alone.  In  explana- 
tion of  this,  it  is  said  that  an  audacious  woman  formed 
the  design  of  appropriating  to  herself  the  holy  image 
and  its  benefits.  She  had  another  doll  prepared  of  the 
same  size  and  appearance  as  the  Santissimo,  and  having 
feigned  sickness  and  obtained  permission  to  have  it  left 
with  her,  she  dressed  the  false  image  in  its  clothes,  and 
sent  it  back  to  Ara  Coeli.  The  fraud  was  not  discovered 
till  night,  when  the  Franciscan  monks  were  awakened  by 


278  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

the  most  furious  ringing  of  bells  and  by  thundering 
knocks  at  the"  west  door  of  the  church,  and  hastening 
thither,  could  see  nothing  but  a  wee  naked  pink  foot  peep- 
ing in  from  under  the  door;  but  when  they  opened  the 
door,  without  stood  the  little  naked  figure  of  the  true 
Bambino  of  Ara  Coeli,  shivering  in  the  wind  and  rain  — 
so  the  false  baby  was  sent  back  in  disgrace,  and  the  real 
baby  restored  to  its  home,  never  to  be  trusted  away  alone 
any  more." 

But  if  I  dwell  on  all  these  interesting  relics 

The  Communion  3 

Table  used  and  images  as  I  have  done  on  the  Holy 
by  Christ.  Cradle  and  the  miraculous  Bambino,  I  shall 
never  finish  even  the  brief  list  of  them  which  I  had  in 
mind  when  I  began.  I  must  hasten  on,  contenting  myself 
with  a  bare  mention  of  a  few  of  the  more  notable  relics 
at  the  other  churches. 

On  the  8th  of  January  we  paid  our  first  visit  to  the 
great  Church  of  St.  John  Lateran,1  and  here  also  the 
relics  interested  us  more  than  anything  else.  Under  the 
canopy  in  the  centre  the  skulls  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul 
are  preserved.  Beneath  the  altar  we  saw  the  wooden 
table  on  which  the  Apostle  Peter  is  said  to  have  "cele- 
brated mass"  in  the  house  of  Pudens.  The  interest  of 
this  relic,  however,  is  completely  eclipsed  by  that  of  an- 
other relic  over  an  altar  at  a  little  distance  in  the  same 
church,  viz:  the  cedar  table  used  by  our  Lord  and  his 
disciples  in  the  Last  Supper.  This  table  is  concealed 
behind  a  bronze  relief  representing  that  solemn  scene  in 
the  Upper  Room  at  Jerusalem. 

"The  Basilica  claims  to  possess  many  valu- 

Other  Relics 

at  st.  John       able  relics.     Amongst  these  are  some  por- 

Lateran.         tions  of  the  manger  in  which  Christ  was 

cradled,  the  shirt  and  seamless  coat  made  for  him  by  the 

1  Later. — This  is  the  church  in  which  the  late  Pope  Leo  XIII. 
is  to  be  buried. 


RELICS  AT  ROME.  279 

Virgin ;  some  of  the  barley  loaves  and  small  fishes  miracu- 
lously multiplied  to  feed  the  five  thousand;  the  linen  cloth 
with  which  he  dried  the  feet  of  his  apostles ;  also  Aaron's 
rod,  the  rod  with  which  Moses  smote  the  Red  Sea,"  etc., 
etc.  (Cook's  Southern  Italy,  p.  114.)  We  did  not  see 
these,  but  in  the  cloister  behind  this  church  we  were 
shown  a  marble  slab  on  pillars  which  was  once  an  altar, 
"at  which  the  officiating  priest  doubted  of  the  Real  Pres- 
ence, when  the  wafer  fell  from  his  hand  -through  the 
stone,  leaving  a  round  hole,  which  still  remains."  Here, 
too,  we  were  shown  a  larger  slab  resting  on  pillars,  more 
than  six  feet  from  the  ground,  which  marks  the  height 
of  our  Saviour;  also  a  porphyry  slab,  upon  which  the 
soldiers  cast  lots  for  his  seamless  robe ;  and  some  columns 
from  Pilate's  house  in  Jerusalem,  which  were  rent  by  the 
earthquake  of  the  crucifixion. 

But  the  great  relic  of  Pilate's  House,  and 

The  Holy  Stairs 

from  Pilate's  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  relics 
in  Rome,  is  across  the  street  from  St.  John 
Lateran,  viz.,  the  world-renowned  Scala  Santa,  or  Holy 
Stairway,  a  flight  of  twenty-eight  marble  steps,  once  as- 
cended by  our  Saviour  in  the  palace  of  Pilate,  and  brought 
from  Jerusalem  to  Rome  in  326  by  the  Empress  Helena, 
mother  of  Constantine  the  Great.  They  are  covered  with 
a  wooden  casing,  but  holes  have  been  left  through  which 
the  marble  steps  can  be  seen.  Two  of  them  are  stained 
with  the  Saviour's  blood.  These  spots  are  covered  with 
glass.  The  light  was  rather  dim,  and  as  we  entered  a 
gentleman  struck  a  match  and  held  it  over  one  of  these 
glass-covered  stains  to  show  it  to  his  little  girl,  so  that, 
passing  just  at  that  moment,  we  also  had  a  good  view. 
No  foot  is  allowed  to  touch  the  Scala  Santa; 
dhuP  *  must  be  ascended  on  the  knees.  A  num- 
and  walked  ber  of  people  were  going  up  in  this  way 
when  we  entered,  pausing  on  each  step  to 


280  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

repeat  a  prayer,  for  which  indulgences  are  granted  by 
the  Pope.  There  are  stairways  on  each  side,  by  which 
those  who  have  thus  crawled  up  may  walk  down.  The 
only  man  I  know  of  that  ever  walked  down  the  Holy 
Stairs  themselves,  and  the  most  illustrious  man  that  ever 
crawled  up  them  on  his  knees,  was  Martin  Luther.  When 
he  had  mounted  slowly  half  way  up,  step  by  step  on  his 
knees,  he  seemed  to  hear  a  voice  saying,  "The  just  shall 
live  by  faith."  Martin  Luther  rose  from  his  knees,  walked 
down  the  staircase,  and  left  the  place  a  free  man  so  far 
as  this  superstition  was  concerned,  and  shortly  afterwards 
became  the  most  formidable  foe  that  ever  assailed  the 
falsehood  and  corruption  of  the  Romish  Church. 

At  the  top  of  the  Scala  Santa  we  saw 
through  a  grating  the  beautiful  silver  taber- 
the  shoes  nacle  containing  the  great  relic  which  has 
of  Christ.  given  to  this  chapel  the  name  of  Sancta 
Sanctorum,  viz. :  the  portrait  of  Christ,  held  by  the 
Romish  Church  to  be  authentic,  having  been  drawn  in 
outline  by  St.  Luke  and  finished  by  an  angel,  whence  its 
name  "Acheiropoeton,"  i.  e.,  the  picture  made  without 
hands.  The  relic  chamber  here  contains  fragments  of 
the  true  cross,  the  sandals  of  Christ,  and  "the  iron  bar 
of  Hades  which  he  brought  away  with  him  from  that 
doleful  region,"  *  but  we  did  not  see  these. 

A  short  walk  beyond  the  Scala  Santa  and 

Theinscrip-         the  Lateran  brings  us  to  the  Church  of 

cross!and        S.   Croce  in  Gerusalemme,   which   is   spe- 

the  Finger        daily  rich  in  relics.     Here  our  party  was 

of  Thomas.  .  ..      ,  P    /^,1     .    , 

shown  a  piece  of  the  true  cross  of  Christ 
and  the  original  plank  bearing  the  inscription,  "Jesus, 
Nazarene  King,"  in  Hebrew,  Greek  and  Latin,  which  was 

1  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Italy,  Alexander  Robertson, 
p.  113. 


RELICS  AT  ROME.  281' 

placed  over  his  head;  also  one  of  the  nails  used  in  his 
crucifixion,  and  two  of  the  thorns  of  his  crown ;  besides 
a  large  piece  of  the  cross  of  the  penitent  thief  who  was 
executed  with  him;  and,  most  interesting  of  all  in  some 
respects,  the  finger  used  by  Thomas  to  resolve  his  doubts 
as  to  the  resurrection  of  Christ  (John  xx.  24-28). 
A  R  **i  r  In  Percy's  Romanism  it  is  said  that  "the 

A  tSOttle  OI 

The  Blood  of    list  of  relics  on  the  right  of  the  apsis  of 
Christ.  s   Croce  includ,es  the  finger  of  s>  Thomas, 

apostle,  with  which  he  touched  the  most  holy  side  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  one  of  the  pieces  of  money  with  which 
the  Jews  paid  the  treachery  of  Judas;  great  part  of  the 
veil  and  of  the  hair  of  the  most  blessed  Virgin;  a  mass 
of  cinders  and  charcoal  united  in  the  form  of  a  loaf,  with 
the  fat  of  S.  Lawrence,  martyr;  one  bottle  of  the  most 
precious  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  another  of  the 
milk  of  the  most  blessed  Virgin ;  a  little  piece  of  the  stone 
where  Christ  was  born;  a  little  piece  of  the  stone  where 
our  Lord  sat  when  he  pardoned  Mary  Magdalene;  of 
the  stone  where  our  Lord  wrote  the  law  given  to  Moses 
on  Mount  Sinai;  of  the  stone  where  reposed  SS.  Peter 
and  Paul;  of  the  cotton  which  collected  the  blood  of 
Christ ;  of  the  manna  which  fed  the  Israelites ;  of  the  rod 
of  Aaron  which  flourished  in  the  desert;  of  the  relics  of 
the  eleven  prophets !"  x 

But  our  party  saw  none  of  these  except  the  finger  of 
Thomas.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  others  have. been 
withdrawn  from  exhibition,  for  surely  superstition  and 
vulgarity  can  no  further  go.  I  fear,  however,  that  those 
who  are  willing  to  pay  enough  can  still  see  "one  bottle 
of  the  most  precious  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and 
"another  of  the  milk  of  the  most  blessed  Virgin" !  There 
isalso"w»a  ampulla  lactis  Beatae  Mariae  Virginis"  among 

1  Hare,  II.,  93- 
19 


282  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

the  many  relics  to  be  seen  in  the  Church  of  SS.  Cosmo 
and  Damiano,  near  the  Forum. 

NO  •women  It  is  a  curious  illustration  of  Romish  wrong- 
Admitted,  headedness  that  women  are  never  allowed  to 
enter  the  Chapel  of  St.  Helena,  in  the  Church  of  S.  Croce, 
except  on  the  festival  of  the  Saint,  August  i8th,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  St.  Helena  herself  was  a  woman, 
and  that  the  church  owes  its  existence  to  her  and  is  also 
indebted  to  her  for  the  piece  of  the  true  cross  which  it 
boasts,  and  which  has  given  it  its  name.  So  while  men 
are  permitted  to  go  inside  the  chapel  of  St.  Helena,  women 
are  stopped  at  the  entrance  and  only  allowed  to  peer 
through  the  railing.  The  same  degrading  discrimination 
is  made  in  the  Church  of  S.  Prassede  (who  also  was  a 
woman)  as  to  entering  the  splendid  chapel,  Orto  del 
Paradise,  which  contains  the  column  of  blood  jasper  to 
which  Christ  was  bound,  and  which  was  "given  by  the 
Saracens  to  Giovanni  Colonna,  cardinal  of  this  church, 
and  legate  of  the  Crusade,  because  when  he  had  fallen 
into  their  hands  and  was  about  to  be  put  to  death,  he 
was  rescued  by  a  marvellous  intervention  of  celestial 
light."  Females  are  never  allowed  to  enter  this  chapel 
except  upon  Sundays  in  Lent,  but  are  permitted  to  look 
at  the  relic  through  a  grating.1 

The  mention  of  this  column  reminds  me  of 
<OUstone'rof     the  two  columns  in  the  Church  of  S.  Maria 
Great          Transpontina,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Tiber, 
near  St.  Peter's,  which  bear  inscriptions  stat- 
ing that  they  were  the  pillars  to  which  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul  were  fastened,  respectively,  when  they  suffered  flag- 
ellation by  order  of  Nero.    A  little  farther  on  towards  St. 
Peter's  is  the  Piazza.  Scossa  Cavalli,  with  a  pretty  foun- 

1  Hare's  Walks  in  Rome,  II.,  pp.  166,  167. 


RELICS  AT  ROME.  283 

tain.  "Its  name  bears  witness  to  a  curious  legend,  which 
tells  how  when  S.  Helena  returned  from  Palestine,  bring- 
ing with  her  the  stone  on  which  Abraham  was  about  to 
sacrifice  Isaac,  and  that  on  which  the  Virgin  Mary  sat 
down  at  the  time  of  the  presentation  of  the  Saviour  in  the 
temple,  the  horses  drawing  these  precious  relics  stood  still 
at  this  spot,  and  refused  every  effort  to  make  them  move. 
Then  Christian  people,  'recognizing  the  finger  of  God/ 
erected  a  church  on  this  spot  —  S.  Giacomo  Scossa  Ca- 
valli  —  where  the  stones  are  still  to  be  seen." 
The  Hardness  While  speaking  of  interesting  stones,  I  must 
of  st.  Peter's  not  omit  to  mention  those  in  the  Church  of 
S.  Francesca  Romana,  near  the  Forum,  con- 
taining the  marks  of  the  knees  of  St.  Peter — (which 
show,  by  the  way,  that  this  apostle  was  a  giant  in  size)  — 
when  he  knelt  to  pray  that  Simon  Magus  might  be 
dropped  by  the  demons  he  had  invoked  to  support  him  in 
the  air  in  fulfilment  of  his  promise  to  fly.  One  of  these 
stones  used  to  lie  in  the  Via  Sacra,  and  the  water  which 
collected  in  the  two  holes  or  knee  prints  was  looked  upon 
as  so  potent  a  remedy  of  disease  that  groups  of  infirm 
people  used  to  gather  around  them  on  the  approach  of  a 
shower.  According  to  the  legend,  the  place  where  Peter 
knelt  when  he  thus  effected  the  discomfiture  of  Simon 
Magus  and  brought  him  to  the  ground  with  such  force 
that  his  thigh  was  fractured,  never  to  be  healed,  was  the 
ancient  Via  Sacra.  But,  after  the  priests  had  removed 
the  stone  from  the  roadway  into  the  church,  the  incon- 
siderate and  iconoclastic  explorers  of  our  day,  who  have 
made  so  many  discoveries  in  their  excavations  about  the 
Forum,  proved  that  the  roadway  from  which  this  relic 
was  taken  was  not  the  ancient  Via  Sacra  at  all,  but  a 
more  modern  roadway  which  had  been  mistaken  for  it  I 


284  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

L  TI   _,  In  the  Mamertine  Prisons,  which  are  also 

The  Hardness 

of  St.  Peter's    quite  close  to  the  Forum,  a  depression  on 
Head>  the  stone  wall  by  which  we  descend  to  the 

lower  dungeon  is  shown  as  the  spot  against  which  St. 
Peter's  head  rested,  though  our  guide  had  just  told  us  that 
these  stairs  were  not  in  existence  then  and  prisoners  were 
let  down  into  the  dungeon  through  the  hole  in  the  middle 
of  the  stone  floor.  Such  trifling  discrepancies  do  not 
seem  to  trouble  the  average  Italian  mind. 

St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  are  said  to  have  been  bound  in 
this  prison  for  nine  months  to  a  pillar,  which  is  shown 
here.  "A  fountain  of  excellent  water  beneath  the  floor 
of  the  prison  is  attributed  to  the  prayers  of  St.  Peter, 
that  he  might  have  wherewith  to  baptize  his  gaolers,  Pro- 
cessus  and  Martinianus ;  but,  unfortunately  for  this  eccle- 
siastical tradition,  the  fountain  is  described  by  Plutarch 
as  having  existed  at  the  time  of  Jugurtha's  imprisonment" 
here,  long  before  the  time  of  St.  Peter. 

Another  miraculous  spiing,  still  flowing,  is  shown  in 
the  Church  of  SS.  Cosmo  and  Damiano  as  that  which 
burst  forth  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  Felix  IV.,  that  he 
might  have  water  to  baptize  his  disciples. 

But  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  miracu- 

What  the  Head  ° 

of  st.  Paul       lous  springs  in  or  around  Rome  are  the  three 
Dld*  fountains,  about  two  miles  from  the  city, 

where  the  Apostle  Paul  was  executed.  When  his  head 
was  severed  from  his  body  it  bounded  from  the  earth 
thiee  times,  crying  out  thrice,  "Jesus!  Jesus!  Jesus!"  A 
fountain  burst  from  the  ground  at  each  of  the  three  spots 
where  the  severed  head  struck.  It  is  asserted,  in  proof 
of  this  origin  of  the  fountains,  that  the  water  of  the  first 
is  still  warm,  of  the  second  tepid,  and  of  the  third  cold, 
but  we  drank  of  them  one  after  another  without  being 
able  to  detect  any  difference  in  temperature.  The  apostle's 


RELICS  AT  ROME.  285 

head  is  shown  in  bas  relief  upon  the  three  altars  above 
the  fountains.  In  the  church  which  has  been  built  over 
them  we  were  shown  the  pillar  to  which  he  was  bound, 
and  the  block  of  marble  upon  which  he  was  decapitated, 
and,  in  the  vault  of  another  church  hard  by,  the  prison  in 
which  he  was  placed  just  before  his  execution. 

We  could  not  help  asking  the  priest  who  was  our 
escort  whether  this  extraordinary  story  was  still  believed. 
His  answer  was :  "Certainly !  There  is  no  reason  what- 
ever to  doubt  it.  The  facts  have  been  handed  down  in 
an  unbroken  succession  from  eye-witnesses,"  a  position 
which  he  proceeded  to  defend  at  length  and  with  great 
warmth  when  one  of  our  party  in  particular  manifested 
much  slowness  to  believe. 

Furthermore,   the   opening  of  these  three 

St.  Paul's  Use 

of  piautnia's    fountains  was  not  the  only  miracle  wrought 
Veil-  by  the  apostle  after  his  death.    Mrs.  Jame- 

son says :  "The  legend  of  his  death  relates  that  a  certain 
Roman  matron  named  Plautilla,  one  of  the  converts  of 
S.  Peter,  placed  herself  on  the  road  by  which  S.  Paul 
passed  to  his  martyrdom,  to  behold  him  for  the  last  time ; 
and  when  she  saw  him  she  wept  greatly  and  besought  his 
blessing.  The  apostle  then,  seeing  her  faith,  turned  to 
her,  and  begged  that  she  would  give  him  her  veil  to  blind 
his  eyes  when  he  should  be  beheaded,  promising  to  return 
it  to  her  after  his  death.  The  attendants  mocked  at  such 
a  promise;  but  Plautilla,  with  a  woman's  faith  and 
charity,  taking  off  her  veil,  presented  it  to  him.  After  his 
martyrdom,  S.  Paul  appeared  to  her  and  restored  the  veil, 
stained  with  his  blood.  In  the  ancient  representations  of 
the  martyrdom  of  S.  Paul,  the  legend  of  Plautilla  is 
seldom  omitted.  In  the  picture  by  Giotto  in  the  Sacristy 
of  S.  Peter's,  Plautilla  is  seen  on  an  eminence  in  the  back- 
ground, receiving  the  veil  from  the  hands  of  S.  Paul, 


286  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

who  appears  in  the  clouds  above;  the  same  representa- 
tion, but  little  varied,  is  executed  in  bas-relief  on  the 
bronze  doors  of  St.  Peter's." 

The  Footprints     About  two  miles   northeast  of  the   Three 
of  Christ         Fountains,  and  the  same  distance  from  the 

in  Stone. 


of  St.  Sebastian.  Over  an  altar  on  the  right,  as  you 
enter,  the  attendant  priest,  drawing  aside  a  curtain,  shows 
you  a  slab  of  dark  red  stone  with  two  enormous  foot- 
prints on  it.  These,  we  are  told,  were  made  by  the  feet 
of  Christ  during  an  interview  with  Peter  which  took  place 
near  here,  on  the  site  of  the  small  Church  of  Domine 
Quo  Vadis.  The  story  is  as  follows  :  After  the  burning 
of  Rome,  Nero  charged  the  Christians  with  having  fired 
the  city.  Straightway  the  first  persecution  broke  forth, 
and  many  of  the  Christians  were  put  to  death  with  dread- 
ful torture.  The  survivors  besought  Peter  not  to  expose 
his  life.  As  he  fled  along  the  Appian  Way,  Christ  ap- 
peared to  him  travelling  towards  the  city.  The  fleeing 
apostle  exclaimed  in  amazement,  "Domine,  quo  vadis?" 
(Lord,  whither  goest  thou?),  to  which,  with  a  look  of 
mild  sadness,  the  Saviour  replied,  "Venio  iterum  crucifigi" 
(I  come  to  be  crucified  a  second  time),  then  vanished, 
whereupon  the  apostle,  ashamed  of  his  weakness,  returned 
to  Rome,  and  shortly  afterwards  was  crucified  there  him- 
self. 

The  chains  of  Another  relic  of  great  interest  connected 
st.  Peter.  with  the  same  apostle  is  shown  in  the 
Church  of  S.  Pietro  in  Vincoli,  in  Rome,  and  indeed 
gives  the  church  its  name.  The  church  is  not  without 
interest  for  other  reasons.  For  instance,  it  possesses  por- 
tions of  the  crosses  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Andrew,  and  we 
are  told  that  the  high  altar  covers  the  remains  of  the 
seven  Maccabean  brothers.  But  the  basilica  is  specially 


RELICS  AT  ROME.  287 

famous  for  the  possession  of  the  greatest  masterpiece  of 
sculpture  since  the  time  of  the  Greeks  —  the  majestic 
"Moses"  of  Michelangelo,  which  draws  thousands  of 
sightseers  who  might  otherwise  never  set  foot  in  the 
building.  Nevertheless,  its  chief  attraction,  to  the  devout 
Roman  Catholic  mind,  is  neither  the  bones  of  the  Macca- 
bees nor  the  statue  of  Moses,  but  the  chains  referred  to 
in  the  following  familiar  passage  of  Scripture:  "Peter 
therefore  was  kept  in  prison ;  but  prayer  was  made  with- 
out ceasing  of  the  church  unto  God  for  him.  And  when 
Herod  would  have  brought  him  forth,  the  same  night 
Peter  was  sleeping  between  two  soldiers  bound  with  two 
chains ;  and  the  keepers  before  the  door  kept  the  prison. 
And  behold,  the  angel  of  the  Lord  came  upon  him,  and 
a  light  shined  in  the  prison;  and  he  smote  Peter  on  the 
side,  and  raised  him  up,  saying,  Arise  up  quickly.  And 
his  chains  fell  off  from  his  hands."  (Acts  xii.  5-7.) 
These  two  chains  were  presented  by  Juvenal,  Bishop  of 
Jerusalem,  to  the  Empress  Eudoxia,  wife  of  Theodosius 
the  younger,  who  placed  one  of  them  in  the  Basilica  of 
the  apostles  in  Constantinople  and  sent  the  other  to  Rome, 
where  this  church  was  erected  as  its  special  shrine.  This 
was  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century.  "But  the 
Romans  could  not  rest  satisfied  with  the  possession  of  half 
the  relic ;  and  within  the  walls  of  this  very  basilica,  Leo  I. 
beheld  in  a  vision  the  miraculous  and  mystical  uniting 
of  the  two  chains,  since  which  they  have  both  been  ex- 
hibited here,  and  the  day  of  their  being  soldered  together 
by  invisible  power,  August  ist,  has  been  kept  sacred  in 
the  Latin  church !"  "They  are  of  unequal  size,  owing  to 
many  fragments  of  one  of  them  (first  whole  links,  then 
only  filings)  having  been  removed  in  the  course  of  cen- 
turies by  various  popes  and  sent  to  Christian  princes  who 
have  been  esteemed  worthy  of  the  favor!  The  longest 


288  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

is  about  five  feet  in  length.  At  the  end  of  one  of  them 
is  a  collar,  which  is  said  to  have  encircled  the  neck  of 
St.  Peter.  They  are  exposed  on  the  day  of  the  'station' 
(the  first  Monday  in  Lent)  in  a  reliquary  presented  by 
Pius  IX.,  adorned  with  statuettes  of  St.  Peter  and  the 
Angel  —  to  whom  he  is  represented  as  saying,  'Ecce  nunc 
scio  vere'  (Acts  xii.  n).  On  the  following  day  a  priest 
gives  the  chains  to  be  kissed  by  the  pilgrims,  and  touches 
their  foreheads  with  them,  saying,  'By  the  intercession  of 
the  blessed  Apostle  Peter,  may  God  preserve  you  from 
evil.  Amen.' " 1 

In  the  sacristy  we  found  a  young  priest 

The  Benefits  «    .  ....          ,        .  .  .  .     . 

of  Buying  a  doing  a  thriving  business  in  copies  of  the 
Fac-simiie  relic.  We  bought  from  him  "an  iron  fac- 
*'  simile  of  the  chains  (about  the  size  of  an 
ordinary  watch-chain),  authenticated  by  a  certificate  tes- 
tifying to  its  having  touched  the  original  chains.  On  the 
back  of  this  certificate  was  printed  an  extract  from  the 
Rules  of  the  Confraternity  of  the  chains  of  St.  Peter,  from 
which  we  learned  that  all  associates  in  this  brotherhood 
must  wear  such  a  fac-simile  as  we  had  just  bought,  that 
the  objects  of  the  Confraternity  are  "The  propagation  of 
the  veneration  of  the  chains  of  St.  Peter,  an  increase  of 
devotion  to  the  Holy  See,  prayers  for  the  Pope's  inten- 
tion, for  the  needs  of  Holy  Church,  the  conversion  of 
infidels  and  sinners,  and  the  extirpation  of  heresy  and 
blasphemy,"  and  that  Pius  IX.  had  granted  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Confraternity  various  indulgences,  one  of 
which  is  "A  plenary  indulgence  and  remission  of  all  sins  z 
if  one  visits  the  Church  of  San  Pietro  in  Vincoli  on  Janu- 
ary 1 8th  8  and  June  29th,4  between  the  first  vespers  of  the 

1  Hare,  II.,  45- 

*  Italics  not  mine,  but  so  printed  in  the  extract. 

1  Feast  of  St.  Peter's  Chair.  *  Feast  of  St.  Peter. 


RELICS  AT  ROME.  289 

feast  and  sunset  of  the  said  days,  or  on  August  ist,  or 
any  one  of  the  seven  days  following  it.  The  usual  prayers 
for  the  Holy  Father's  intention,"  etc.,  are  comprised  in 
these  visits.  We  are  told  also  that  "the  foregoing  indul- 
gences are  applicable  to  the  souls  in  purgatory." 
.  D  ,.  .  We  may  close  this  running:  account  of  the 

The  Relics  in 

St.  Peter's       relics  at  Rome  with  a  brief  mention  of  those 

Cathedral.         th&t  afe  t()  ^  &(Xn  ^  gt     peter>s  itsdf>   the 

largest  and  costliest  church  in  the  world.  The  construc- 
tion of  it  extended  over  one  hundred  and  seventy-six 
years.  The  cost  of  the  main  building  alone  was  fifty 
million  dollars.  The  annual  outlay  for  repairs  is  thirty- 
one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  But  it  cost  the 
Romish  Church  far  more  than  money  —  it  cost  her  the 
loss  of  all  the  leading  nations  of  the  world,  which  had 
been  under  her  dominion  till  that  time.  For  the  expense 
of  the  vast  structure,  with  its  "insolent  opulence  of  mar- 
bles/' was  so  great  that  Julius  II.  and  Leo  X.  were  obliged 
to  meet  the  enormous  outlay  by  the  sale  of  indulgences, 
and  that,  as  is  well  known,  precipitated  the  Reformation. 
So  that  Protestants  may  well  feel  a  peculiar  interest  in 
this  mighty  cathedral. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  popes  would 
hich  not  allow  the  chief  church  of  Roman  Ca- 
Christ  Leaned  tholicism  to  go  begging  in  the  matter  of 
relics.  And,  sure  enough,  we  have  no 
sooner  pushed  aside  the  heavy  padded  screen  and  stepped 
within  than  we  find  on  our  right  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy 
Column,  so  called  because  it  contains  a  pillar  which  is 
declared  to  have  been  that  against  which  our  Lord  leaned 
when  he  prayed  and  taught  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem. 
The  pillar  contains  this  inscription :  "Haec  est  ilia  columna 
in  qua  DNS  Nr  Jesus  XPS  appodiatus  dum  populo  pra- 
dicabat  et  Deo  pno  preces  in  templo  effundebat  adhaer- 


290  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

endo,  stabatque  una  cum  aliis  undecim  hie  circumstant- 
ibus.  De  Salomonis  templo  in  triumphum  hujus  Basilicae 
hie  locata  fuit:  demones  expellit  et  immundis  spiritibus 
vexatos  liberos  r,ddit  et  multa  miracula  cotidie  facit.  P. 
reverendissimum  prem  et  Dominum  Dominum  Card,  de 
Ursinis.  A.  D.  MDCCCXXVIIL" 

At  the  other  end  of  the  church   we  are 

I  he  Lnair  ot 

st.  Peter.  shown  an  ancient  wooden  chair,  encrusted 
with  ivory,  which  we  are  told  was  the  Cathedra  Petri, 
the  episcopal  throne  of  St.  Peter  and  his  immediate  suc- 
cessors. A  magnificent  festival  in  honor  of  this  chair  has 
been  annually  celebrated  here  for  hundreds  of  years. 

My  party  seems  to  be  made  up  of  very  determined 
Protestants.  At  any  rate,  the  sight  of  this  relic  leads 
an  inquisitive  person  in  the  party  to  ask  whether  the 
Bible  does  not  say  that  "Peter's  wife's  mother  lay  sick 
of  a  fever." 

"Yes,"  replies  the  unfortunate  gentleman  to  whose  lot 
it  falls  to  answer  all  questions  of  all  kinds. 

"Then,"  continues  the  Inquisitive  Person,  "Peter  was 
married  ?" 

Unfortunate  Gentleman:    "Yes." 

I.  P. :   "Do  the  Popes  still  marry  ?" 

U.  G.:   "No." 

I.  P. :    "If  'the  first  Pope'  was  married,  why  should 
not  his  successors  be  married,  and  why  should  they  insist 
upon  a  celibate  clergy  in  every  age,  in  every  country,  and 
under  all  circumstances?" 
The  Bones  of        ^'  ^' '   "These  questions  are  becoming  too 

st.  Peter,  hard  for  me.  Come,  let  me  show  you  the 
tomb  which  contains  the  bones  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 
Only  half  of  their  bodies  are  preserved  here,  the  other 
portion  of  St.  Peter's  being  in  the  Church  of  St.  John 


RELICS  AT  ROME.  291 

Lateran  and  the  other  portion  of  St.  Paul's  at  the  mag- 
nificent basilica  of  St.  Paul's  without  the  walls." 

"A  circle  of  eighty-six  gold  lamps  is  always  burning 
around  the  tomb  of  the  poor  fisherman  of  Galilee.  .  .  . 
Hence  one  can  gaze  up  into  the  dome,  with  its  huge 
letters  in  purple-blue  mosaic  upon  a  gold  ground  (each 
six  feet  long)  —  Tu  es  Petrus,  et  super  hanc  petram 
aedificabo  ecclesiam  meam,  et  tibi  dabo  claves  regni  coelo- 
rum.'  Above  this  are  four  colossal  mosaics  of  the  Evan- 
gelists. .  .  .  The  pen  of  St.  Luke  is  seven  feet  in 
length." 

But  we  must  not  permit  ourselves  to  be  diverted  from 
our  proper  subject  by  the  vastness  and  splendor  of  the 
building,  natural  as  it  is  to  do  so  when  standing  under  this 
matchless  dome.  The  four  huge  piers  which  support  the 
dome  are  used  as  shrines  for  the  four  great  relics  of  the 
church,  viz.:  I.  The  lance  of  St.  Longinus,  the  soldier 
who  pierced  the  Saviour's  side ;  2.  A  portion  of  the  true 
cross;  3.  The  napkin  of  St.  Veronica,  containing  the 
miraculous  impression  of  our  Lord's  face;  and  4.  The 
head  of  the  apostle  Andrew. 

I  did  not  see  these  relics  myself,  as  I  was  in  the  East 
when  they  were  exhibited,  but  on  April  nth,  the  day 
before  Easter,  other  members  of  my  party  did,  that  is, 
they  saw  all  of  them  but  Andrew's  head,  and  from  a 
letter  written  me  by  the  youngest  of  my  correspondents 
in  my  own  family,  giving  not  only  description,  but  draw- 
ings of  the  spear  head,  the  cross  and  the  handkerchief  in 
their  several  frames,  I  infer  that,  notwithstanding  the 
great  height  of  the  Veronica  balcony  from  which  they  are 
exhibited,  my  young  correspondent  and  his  companions 
fared  better  in  the  matter  of  a  good  view  than  Fritz 
in  Chronicles  of  the  Schonberg  Cotta  Family,  who  says : 
'To-day  we  gazed  on  the  Veronica  —  the  holy  impression 


292  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

left  by  our  Saviour's  face  on  the  cloth  S.  Veronica  pre- 
sented to  him  to  wipe  his  brow,  bowed  under  the  weight 
of  the  cross.  We  had  looked  forward  to  this  sight  for 
days,  for  seven  thousand  years  of  indulgence  from  pen- 
ance are  attached  to  it.  But  when  the  moment  came  we 
could  see  nothing  but  a  black  board  hung  with  a  cloth, 
before  which  another  white  cloth  was  held.  In  a  few 
minutes  this  was  withdrawn,  and  the  great  moment  was 
over,  the  glimpse  of  the  sacred  thing  on  which  hung  the 
fate  of  seven  thousand  years." 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
THE  LEGENDS,  THE  POPES,  AND  THE  PASQUINADES. 

"D  EFORE  quitting  the  subject  of  the  relics  at  Rome,  I 
U  must  give  my  readers  what  Hare  calls  "the  extra- 
ordinary history  of  the  manufacture  of  S.  Filomena,  now 
one  of  the  most  popular  saints  in  Italy,  and  one  towards 
TheManufac-  wn<>m  idolatry  is  carried  out  with  frantic 
tureofst.  enthusiasm  both  at  Domo  d'Ossola  and  in 

omena-  some  of  the  Neapolitan  States." 
"In  the  year  1802,  while  some  excavations  were  going 
forward  in  the  Catacombs  of  Priscilla,  a  sepulchre  was 
discovered  containing  the  skeleton  of  a  young  female; 
on  the  exterior  were  rudely  painted  some  of  the  symbols 
constantly  recurring  in  these  chambers  of  the  dead  —  an 
anchor,  an  olive  branch  (emblems  of  Hope  and  Peace), 
a  scourge,  two  arrows,  and  a  javelin;  above  them  the 
following  inscription,  of  which  the  beginning  and  end 
were  destroyed: 

— "  LUMEN  A  PAX  TE  CUM  Fr" — 

The  remains,  reasonably  supposed  to  be  those  of  one  of 
the  early  martyrs  for  the  faith,  were  sealed  up  and  de- 
posited in  the  treasury  of  relics  in  the  Lateran ;  here  they 
remained  for  some  years  unthought  of.  On  the  return 
of  Pius  VII.  from  France,  a  Neapolitan  prelate  was  sent 
to  congratulate  him.  One  of  the  priests  in  his  train,  who 
wished  to  create  a  sensation  in  his  district,  where  the  long 
residence  of  the  French  had  probably  caused  some  decay 
of  piety,  begged  for  a  few  relics  to  carry  home,  and  these 
recently  discovered  remains  were  bestowed  on  him;  the 


294  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

inscription  was  translated  somewhat  freely  to  signify 
Santa  Philomena,  rest  in  peace.  Another  priest,  whose 
name  is  suppressed,  because  of  his  great  humility,  was 
favored  by  a  vision  in  the  broad  noonday,  in  which  he 
beheld  the  glorious  virgin  Filomena,  who  was  pleased  to 
reveal  to  him  that  she  had  suffered  death  for  preferring 
the  Christian  faith  and  her  vow  of  chastity  to  the  ad- 
dresses of  the  emperor,  who  wished  to  make  her  his  wife. 
This  vision  leaving  much  of  her  history  obscure,  a  certain 
young  artist,  whose  name  is  also  suppressed,  perhaps  be- 
cause of  his  great  humility,  was  informed  in  a  vision 
that  the  emperor  alluded  to  was  Diocletian,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  torments  and  persecutions  suffered  by  the 
Christian  virgin  Filomena,  as  well  as  her  wonderful  con- 
stancy, were  also  revealed  to  him.  There  were  some 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  Emperor  Diocletian,  which 
incline  the  writer  of  the  historical  account  to  incline  to  the 
opinion  that  the  young  artist  in  his  wisdom  may  have 
made  a  mistake,  and  that  the  emperor  may  have  been  not 
Diocletian,  but  Maximian.  The  facts,  however,  now  ad- 
mitted of  no  doubt;  the  relics  were  carried  by  the  priest 
Francesco  da  Lucia  to  Naples;  they  were  enclosed  in  a 
case  of  wood  resembling  in  form  the  human  body;  this 
figure  was  habited  in  a  petticoat  of  white  satin,  and  over 
it  a  crimson  tunic  after  the  Greek  fashion;  the  face  was 
painted  to  represent  nature,  a  garland  of  flowers  was 
placed  on  the  head,  and  in  the  hands  a  lily  and  a  javelin 
with  the  point  reversed,  to  express  her  purity  and  her 
martyrdom;  then  she  was  laid  in  a  half-sitting  posture 
in  a  sarcophagus,  of  which  the  sides  were  glass,  and,  after 
lying  for  some  time  in  state  in  the  chapel  of  the  Torres 
family  in  the  Church  of  Sant'  Angiolo,  she  was  carried  in 
grand  procession  to  Mugnano,  a  little  town  about  twenty 
miles  from  Naples,  amid  the  acclamations  of  the  people, 


THE  LEGENDS  AND  THE  POPES.        295 

working  many  and  surprising  miracles  by  the  way. 
Such  is  the  legend  of  S.  Filomena,  and  such  the  authority 
on  which  she  has  become  within  the  last  twenty  years 
one  of  the  most  popular  saints  in  Italy."— Mrs.  Jameson's 
Sacred  and  Legendary  Art,  p.  671. 

But,  after  all,  the  most  extraordinary  case  of  saint- 
manufacture  is  not  that  of  Philomena,  but  that  of 
Buddha!  I  have  not  room  for  the  story  here,  but  if  any 
one  wishes  to  know  how  the  papacy  made  Buddha  a 
Christian  saint,  he  will  find  the  whole  story,  with  the 
proofs,  in  A  History  of  the  Warfare  of  Science  and 
Theology,  by  Andrew  D.  White,  LL.  D.,  late  President 
and  Professor  of  History  at  Cornell  University,  and  until 
recently  United  States  Ambassador  to  Germany. 
"The  courteous  A  few  days  ago  we  visited  the  Church  of 
Spaniard."  st>  Laurence  Without  the  Walls,  where  in 
a  silver  shrine  under  the  high  altar,  the  remains  of  St. 
Laurence  and  St.  Stephen  are  said  to  rest.  The  walls 
of  the  portico  of  the  church  are  covered  with  a  series 
of  frescoes,  lately  repainted.  One  series  represents  the 
story  of  St.  Stephen  and  that  of  the  translation  of  his 
relics  to  this  church.  "The  relics  of  St.  Stephen  were 
preserved  at  Constantinople,  whither  they  had  been  trans- 
ported from  Jerusalem  by  the  Empress  Eudoxia,  wife  of 
Theodosius  II.  Hearing  that  her  daughter,  Eudoxia,  wife 
of  Valentinian  II.,  Emperor  of  the  West,  was  afflicted 
with  a  devil,  she  begged  her  to  come  to  Constantinople, 
that  her  demon  might  be  driven  out  by  the  touch  of  the 
relics.  The  younger  Eudoxia  wished  to  comply,  but  the 
devil  refused  to  leave  her  unless  St.  Stephen  was  brought 
to  Rome.  An  agreement  was  therefore  made  that  the 
relics  of  St.  Stephen  should  be  exchanged  for  those  of 
St.  Laurence.  St.  Stephen  arrived,  and  the  Empress  was 
immediately  relieved  of  her  devil;  but  when  the  persons 


296  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

who  had  brought  the  relics  of  St.  Stephen  from  Constan- 
tinople were  about  to  take  those  of  St.  Laurence  back 
with  them,  they  all  fell  down  dead!  Pope  Pelagius 
prayed  for  their  restoration  to  life,  which  was  granted 
for  a  short  time,  to  prove  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  but  they 
all  died  again  ten  days  later!  Thus  the  Romans  knew 
that  it  would  be  criminal  to  fulfil  their  promise,  and  part 
with  the  relics  of  St.  Laurence,  and  the  bodies  of  the  two 
martyrs  were  laid  in  the  same  sarcophagus."  And  thus 
we  know  how  much  more  the  Romans  think  of  relics 
than  of  honor  and  truth.  "It  is  related  that  when  they 
opened  the  sarcophagus,  and  lowered  into  it  the  body 
of  St.  Stephen,  St.  Laurence  moved  on  one  side,  giving 
the  place  of  honor  on  the  right  hand  to  St.  Stephen; 
hence,  the  common  people  of  Rome  have  conferred  on 
St.  Laurence  the  title  of  'II  cortese  Spagnuolo'  —  the 
courteous  Spaniard." 

Another  series  of  these  pictures  in  the  portico  repre- 
sents the  story  of  a  sacristan  who,  coming  to  pray  in  this 
church  before  day,  found  it  filled  with  worshippers,  and 
was  told  by  St.  Laurence  himself  that  they  were  the 
Apostle  Peter,  the  first  martyr,  Stephen,  and  other  apos- 
tles, martyrs  and  virgins  from  paradise,  and  was  ordered 
to  go  and  tell  the  Pope  what  he  had  seen,  and  bid  him 
come  and  celebrate  a  solemn  mass.  The  sacristan  ob- 
jected that  the  Pope  would  not  believe  him,  and  asked 
for  some  visible  sign.  Then  St.  Laurence  ungirt  his  robe 
and  gave  him  his  girdle.  When  the  Pope  was  accompany- 
ing him  back  to  the  basilica  they  met  a  funeral  procession. 
To  test  the  powers  of  the  girdle,  the  Pope  laid  it  on  the 
bier,  and  at  once  the  dead  arose  and  walked. 
The  Miracles  of  That  is  not  the  only  miracle  of  resurrection 

st.  Dominic,   offered  to  our  credulity  by  these  ecclesias- 
tical legends.    The  three  principal  frescoes  in  the  chapter 


THE  LEGENDS  AND  THE  POPES.   297 

house  of  the  church  of  St.  Sisto,  recently  painted  by  the 
Padre  Besson,  represent  three  miracles  of  St.  Dominic  — 
in  each  case  of  raising  from  the  dead  —  the  subjects  being 
a  mason  who  had  fallen  from  a  scaffold  when  building 
this  monastery,  a  child,  and  the  young  Lord  Napoleone 
Orsini,  who  had  been  thrown  from  his  horse  and  instantly 
killed,  and  who  was  brought  to  life  by  St.  Dominic  on 
this  spot,  as  is  further  commemorated  by  an  inscription 
on  the  wall.  But  miracles  were  nothing  uncommon  in 
the  history  of  the  founder  of  the  powerful  Dominican 
Order.  In  the  refectory  of  St.  Marco,  at  Florence,  we 
had  seen  the  fine  fresco  which  represents  the  miraculous 
provision  made  for  him  and  his  forty  friars  at  a  time  of 
scarcity  by  two  angels.  The  refectory  in  which  this  mira- 
cle took  place  is  at  the  Church  of  St.  Sabina,  on  the 
Aventine,  in  Rome;  but  there  are  three  other  things  at 
this  church  which  interested  us  hardly  less  than  the  scene 
of  that  miracle.  One  of  them  is  the  huge,  pumpkin- 
shaped,  black  stone,  two  or  three  times  as  big  as  a  man's 
head,  which  the  devil  is  said  to  have  hurled  at  St.  Dominic 
one  day  when  he  found  him  lying  prostrate  in  prayer. 
This  stone  is  the  most  conspicuous  object  in  the  church, 
being  set  up  on  a  pillar  about  three  feet  high,  right  in 
the  middle  of  the  nave.  Not  far  away  is  the  marble 
slab  on  which  the  saint  was  lying  at  the  time  that  the 
formidable  missile  was  thrown.  The  adversary's  aim  was 
not  good,  and  the  saint  was  not  harmed.  The  second 
thing  of  chief  interest  here  is  the  Chapel  of  the  Rosary, 
at  the  other  end  of  the  same  aisle  in  which  the  marble  slab 
lies,  built  on  the  very  spot  where  St.  Dominic  had  the 
vision  in  which  he  received  the  rosary  from  the  hands  of 
the  Virgin.  The  supernatural  gift  is  commemorated  in  a 
beautiful  painting  by  Sassoferato.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  explain  to  any  of  my  readers  that  a  rosary  is  a  string 
20 


298  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

of  beads  used  by  Roman  Catholics  to  keep  the  count  of 
the  number  of  Pater-nosters  and  Ave-Marias  which  they 
repeat,  and  that  this  manner  of  "vain  repetitions"  was 
first  used  by  the  Dominicans  among  Roman  Catholics, 
though  the  custom  was  really  borrowed  from  the  Moham- 
medans and  Brahmins,  who  still  use  rosaries.  The  third 
object  is  the  famous  orange  tree,  now  six  hundred  and 
seventy  years  old,  which  is  said  to  have  been  brought 
from  Spain  and  planted  in  the  court  here  by  St.  Dominic 
himself,  orange  trees  having  been  unknown  in  Rome  be- 
fore that  time,  and  "which  still  lives,  and  is  firmly  believed 
to  flourish  or  fail  with  the  fortunes  of  the  Dominican 
Order."  Ladies  are  not  allowed  to  approach  this  tree, 
so,  as  there  were  ladies  in  our  party,  we  all  contented 
ourselves  with  a  look  at  it  through  a  window.  Hard  by, 
of  course,  there  is  a  room  where  things  are  sold  to  pil- 
grims and  visitors.  There  we  bought  a  rosary,  the  beads 
of  which  are  made  of  the  fruit  of  the  plant  called  the 
Thorn  of  Christ,  with  the  exception  of  the  bead  next  to 
the  cross,  which  is  a  tiny  dried  orange  from  St.  Dominic's 
tree.  Enclosed  in  the  cross  are  a  little  piece  of  the  wood 
of  the  tree,  and  some  earth  from  the  catacombs  where  the 
bodies  of  Sts.  Peter  and  Paul,  and  of  the  holy  virgin 
martyrs,  Sts.  Agnes  and  Cecilia,  reposed  for  some  time. 
The  printed  leaflet  which  accompanies  our  purchase  tells 
us  that  "these  rosaries,  when  sold  or  ordered,  are  blessed 
and  enriched  with  the  indulgences  of  the  Rosary  Confra- 
ternity and  the  papal  blessing.  When  blessed  they  may 
be  distributed ;  but  if  resold  they  lose  all  the  indulgences." 
(Italics  ours.) 

Still  another  relic  of  great  interest  in  this  convent  of 
St.  Sabina  is  the  crucifix  of  Michele  Ghislieri  (afterwards 
Pope  Pius  V.).  "One  day,  as  Ghislieri  was  about  to  kiss 
his  crucifix,  in  the  eagerness  of  prayer,  the  image  of 


THE  LEGENDS  AND  THE  POPES.   299 

Christ,  says  the  legend,  retired  of  its  own  accord  from  his 
touch,  for  it  had  been  poisoned  by  an  enemy,  and  a  kiss 
would  have  been  death." 

In  the  Church  of  St.  Gregory,  on  the  Ccelian 
"Miracles        ^-^'  ^€  thing  that  interested  us  most  was 
by  other       the  picture  by  Badalocchi,  "commemorating 
images*"      a  miracle  on  this  spot,  when,  at  the  moment 
of  elevation,  the  Host  is  said  to  have  bled 
in  the  hands  of  St.  Gregory,  to  convince  an  unbeliever 
of  the  truth  of  transubstantiation."     This  is  the  same 
Gregory  who  presented  certain  foreign  ambassadors  with 
a  handful  of  earth  from  the  arena  of  the  Coliseum  as  a 
relic  for  their  sovereigns,  so  many  martyrs  having  suf- 
fered death  there,  and  "upon  their  receiving  the  gift  with 
disrespect,  he  pressed  it,  when  blood  flowed  from  the 
soil." 

Not  far  from  the  Church  of  St.  Gregory  we  were 
shown  the  hermitage  where  St.  Giovanni  de  Matha  lived. 
"Before  he  came  to  reside  here  he  had  been  miraculously 
brought  from  Tunis  (whither  he  had  gone  on  a  mission) 
to  Ostia,  in  a  boat  without  helm  or  sail,  in  which  he 
knelt  without  ceasing  before  the  crucifix  throughout  the 
whole  of  his  voyage !" 

Time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  the  miraculous  surgical 
operation  performed  by  Sts.  Cosmo  and  Damian  upon  a 
man  who  was  praying  in  the  church  dedicated  to  them, 
and  who  had  a  diseased  leg  amputated  without  pain  by 
the  good  saints  while  he  slept ;  and  not  only  so,  but  had 
a  sound  leg,  which  they  had  taken  from  the  body  of  a 
man  just  buried,  substituted  for  the  diseased  one.  Nor 
can  I  dwell  on  the  miraculous  blindness  with  which  the 
guard  sent  to  seize  Pope  St.  Martin  I.  was  stricken  the 
moment  he  caught  sip-lit  of  the  pontiff  in  St.  Maria  Mag- 
giore,  or  the  miraculous  tears  shed  by  an  image  of  the 


300  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Virgin  attached  to  a  neighboring  wall  when  she  saw  a 
cruel  murder  committed  in  the  street  below,  or  the  ma- 
donnas and  crucifixes  that  spoke  to  saints  on  various  occa- 
sions. One  of  these,  however,  is  too  significant  to  be 
omitted  altogether.  There  is  in  the  Church  of  St.  Agos- 
tino  a  sculptured  image  of  the  Madonna  and  child.  "It 
is  not  long  since  the  report  was  spread  that  one  day  a 
poor  woman  called  upon  this  image  of  the  Madonna  for 
help ;  it  began  to  speak,  and  replied,  'If  I  had  only  some- 
thing, then  I  could  help  thee,  but  I  myself  am  so  poor!' 
This  story  was  circulated,  and  very  soon  throngs  of  credu- 
lous people  hastened  hither  to  kiss  the  foot  of  the  Ma- 
donna, and  to  present  her  with  all  kinds  of  gifts."  ( Italics 
mine.) 

The  evil  methods  employed  at  various  times 
HOW  the  Papal  ^o  r€pjenisn  the  papal  treasury  are  known 

Treasury  r    r 

was  Filled,      to  all  readers  of  history.     The  best  known, 
and  how  it      perhaps,  is  the  shameless  traffic  in  indul- 

was  Emptied.   r 

gences  by  Tetzel,  which  helped  to  precipi- 
tate the  Reformation.  Hare  closes  his  account  of  the  ex- 
ecution of  Beatrice  Cenci  for  complicity  in  the  murder  of 
her  father  with  the  statement  that  "sympathy  will  always 
follow  one  who  sinned  under  the  most  terrible  of  provoca- 
tions, and  whose  cruel  death  was  due  to  the  avarice  of 
Clement  VIII.  for  the  riches  which  the  church  acquired 
by  the  confiscation  of  the  Cenci  property,"  and  cites  the 
petition  of  Gaspare  Guizza  (1601),  in  which  he  claims  a 
reward  from  the  Pope  for  his  service  in  apprehending 
one  of  the  assassins  of  Francesco  Cenci,  on  the  ground 
that  thus  "the  other  accomplices  and  their  confessions 
were  secured,  and  so  many  thousands  of  crozvns  brought 
into  the  papal  treasury."  The  venality  of  Pope  Alex- 
ander VI.,  Rodrigo  Borgia  (1492-1503),  "the  wicked  and 
avaricious  father  of  Caesar  and  Lucretia,  who  is  believed 


THE  LEGENDS  AND  THE  POPES.   301 

to  have  died  of  the  poison  which  he  intended  for  one  of 
his  cardinals,"  is  thus  hit  off  by  Pasquino : 

"Vendit  Alexander  claves,  altaria,  Christum; 
Emerat  ille  prius,  vendere  jure  potest." 

Of  Innocent  X.  (i644~'55),  Pasquino  says,  "Magis  amat 
Olympiam  quam  Olympium,"  referring  to  the  shameful 
relations  existing  between  this  Pope  and  his  avaricious 
sister-in-law,  Olympia  Maidalchini,  who  made  it  her  busi- 
ness to  secure  the  profits  of  the  papacy  in  hard  cash. 
Trollope,  in  his  Life  of  Olympia,  says :  "No  appointment 
to  office  of  any  kind  was  made  except  in  consideration 
of  a  proportionable  sum  paid  down  into  her  own  coffers. 
This  often  amounted  to  three  or  four  years'  revenue  of 
the  place  to  be  granted.  Bishoprics  and  benefices  were 
sold  as  fast  as  they  became  vacant.  One  story  is  told 
of  an  unlucky  disciple  of  Simon,  who  in  treating  with  the 
Pope  for  a  valuable  see,  just  fallen  vacant,  and  hearing 
from  her  a  price  at  which  it  might  be  his,  far  exceeding 
all  he  could  command,  persuaded  the  members  of  his 
family  to  sell  all  they  had  for  the  purpose  of  making  this 
profitable  investment.  The  price  was  paid,  and  the 
bishopric  was  given  him,  but,  with  a  fearful  resemblance 
to  the  case  of  Ananias,  he  died  within  the  year,  and  his 
ruined  family  saw  the  see  a  second  time  sold  by  the  insa- 
tiable and  incorrigible  Olympia.  .  .  .  During  the  last 
year  of  Innocent's  life,  Olympia  literally  hardly  ever 
quitted  him.  Once  a  week,  we  read,  she  left  the  Vatican, 
secretly  by  night,  accompanied  by  several  porters  carrying 
sacks  of  coins,  the  proceeds  of  the  week's  extortions  and 
sales,  to  her  own  palace.  And  during  these  short  absences 
she  used  to  lock  the  Pope  into  his  chamber,  and  take  the 
key  with  her !"  She  finally  "deserted  him  on  his  death- 
bed, making  off  with  the  accumulated  spoils  of  his  ten 


302  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

years'  papacy,  which  enabled  her  son,  Don  Camillo,  to 
build  the  Palazzo  Doria  Pamfili,  in  the  Corso,  and  the 
beautiful  Villa  Doria  Pamfili,"  west  of  the  Janiculan  Hill. 
This  villa,  with  its  casino,  garden,  lake,  fountain,  pine- 
shaded  lawns  and  woods,  and  its  fine  view  of  St.  Peter's 
standing  out  against  the  green  Campagna  beyond,  and  the 
blue  Sabine  mountains  in  the  distance,  is  to  this  day  one 
of  the  loveliest  villas  in  Italy,  and  the  favorite  resort  of 
the  latter-day  Romans  and  visitors  to  their  city  on  the 
two  afternoons  of  the  week  on  which  it  is  open  to  pedes- 
trians and  two-horse  carriages. 

The  notorious  Simony  practiced  by  the  popes,  in 
which,  as  we  have  just  seen,  Olympia  became  such  an 
adept,  gave  rise  to  the  biting  Latin  couplet  — 

"An  Petrus  Romae  fuerit,  sub  judice  lis  est; 
Simonem  Romae  nemo  fuisse  negat." 

Some  of  the  modern  methods  of  making  use  of  the  Pope 
for  purposes  of  gain  are  less  objectionable  than  those  of 
Olympia.  Dr.  Alexander  Robertson,  in  his  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church  in  Italy,  just  published,  says:  "One  of  the 
very  latest  novelties  of  the  Tope's  Shop'  is  a  penny-in- 
the-slot  blessing  machine.  Specimens  of  this  were  lately 
to  be  seen  in  the  Corso,  Rome,  about  half  way  between  the 
Piazza.  Colonna  and  the  Piazza  del  Popolo.  A  penny  is 
dropped  into  it.  The  cinematograph,  or  wheel  of  life, 
goes  round,  when,  lo!  there  appears  a  long  procession 
of  richly  clothed  cardinals  and  monsignori,  and  then  the 
Pope  in  a  sedan  chair,  accompanied  by  his  Swiss  Guards. 
As  he  is  carried  past  the  spectator,  he  turns  towards  the 
window  of  his  chair,  a  smile  overspreads  his  face,  he  raises 
his  hands,  and  gives  his  blessing.  On  these  machines 
there  is  an  inscription  to  the  effect  that  the  blessing  thus 
given  and  received  is  equivalent  to  that  given  by  the  Pope 


THE  LEGENDS  AND  THE  POPES.   303 

in  person  in  St.  Peter's.  Truly  a  novel  way  of  turning  an 
honest  penny!"  We  hear  that  a  rash  churchman,  not 
liking  the  facts  just  stated,  undertook  to  deny  them  in  the 
public  prints,  when  up  spoke  some  English  gentlemen, 
who  had  been  in  Rome  recently,  and  bowled  the  church- 
man over  with  the  statement  that  they  had  themselves 
seen  this  blessing  machine  on  the  Corso. 

One  never  touches  this  subject  of  the  vast  wealth  of 
the  papacy  without  calling  to  mind  the  well-known  re- 
joinder of  the  great  theologian,  Thomas  Aquinas,  when 
the  Pope  was  showing  him  all  his  money  and  riches,  and 
said,  "You  see,  Thomas,  the  church  cannot  now  say  what 
it  said  in  early  times,  'Silver  and  gold  have  I  none.' " 
"No,"  answered  Aquinas,  "nor  can  it  say,  'Rise  up  and 
walk'"  (Acts  iii.  6).  This  loss  of  spiritual  power,  this 
loss  of  ability  to  minister  salvation  to  others,  is  one  of 
the  most  melancholy  results  of  the  corruption  of  the 
papacy. 

Dr.  Alexander  Robertson,  in  his  recent  book 

'^TMngsin       on  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Italy, 

the  Lives  of    which  has  received  the  hearty  approval  of 

the  King  of  Italy  and  his  Prime  Minister, 
says:  "There  are  few,  I  daresay,  who  have  looked  into 
the  history  of  the  popes,  no  matter  what  their  religious 
faith  may  be,  who  will  not  agree  with  me  when  I  say  that 
it  does  not  afford  pleasant  reading.  One's  intellect  rebels 
against  their  preposterous  claims  and  pretensions,  and 
one's  moral  sense  against  their  character  and  lives. 
Amongst  them  there  were  some  good  men,  some  learned 
men,  and  some  really  able  men;  but,  taking  them  all  in 
all,  they  were,  beyond  doubt,  amongst  the  lowest  class  of 
men  to  be  found  on  the  pages  of  history.  To  wade 
through  their  lives  is  to  cross  a  pestiferous  moral  swamp 
of  worldliness,  simony,  nepotism,  concubinage,  personal 


304  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

animosities,  sanguinary  feuds,  forged  decretals,  plunder- 
ings,  poisonings,  assassinations,  massacres,  death."  1 

One  may  smile  at  such  papal  peccadilloes  as  the  vanity 
of  Paul  II.,  who  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  his  personal 
beauty,  and  was  so  vain  of  his  appearance  that,  when  he 
was  elected  Pope,  he  wished  to  take  the  name  of  For- 
mosus.  One  may  be  amused  at  the  intense  self-esteem 
of  Urban  VIIL,  of  whose  spoliation  of  ancient  Rome 
Pasquino  says,  "Quod  non  fecerunt  barbari,  fecerunt 
Barberini,"  and  who,  in  the  Barberini  palace,  had  the 
Virgin  and  angels  represented  as  bringing  in  the  orna- 
ments of  the  papacy  at  his  coronation,  and  in  another 
room  a  number  of  the  Barberini  bees  (the  family  crest) 
flocking  against  the  sun,  and  eclipsing  it  —  to  symbolize 
the  splendor  of  the  family.  But  our  feeling  changes  when 
we  read  that  "he  issued  a  bull  by  which  the  name,  estates 
and  privileges  of  his  house  might  pass  to  any  living  male 
descendant,  legitimate  or  illegitimate,  whether  child  of 
prince  or  priest,"  lest  the  family  of  Barberini  might  be- 
come absorbed  in  that  of  Colonna.  And  we  do  not  go 
far  in  our  reading  about  such  popes  before  the  feeling 
of  amusement  yields  to  one  of  sadness,  indignation  and 
horror.  We  need  not  insist  upon  the  story  of  the  female 
Pope  Joan,  who  is  said  to  have  secured  her  election  to 
the  papal  throne  disguised  as  a  man,  and  to  have  reigned 
two  years  as  John  VIII.,  and  then  to  have  died  a  shameful 

1  It  was  a  bad  day  for  the  cause  of  truth  when  Foxe's  Book  of 
Martyrs  was  allowed  to  go  out  of  general  circulation.  When  I  was 
a  boy  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  see  copies  of  it  in  American 
homes.  Now  it  is  rarely  seen.  A  new  and  corrected  edition  of  it 
ought  to  be  brought  out  and  given  wide  circulation.  There  have 
been  not  a  few  indications  this  year  that  our  people  are  forgetting 
some  of  the  most  instructive  history  of  all  the  past,  and  those  who 
seem  to  be  most  oblivious  of  it  are  the  editors  of  some  of  the 
secular  newspapers. 


THE  LEGENDS  AND  THE  POPES.   305 

death ;  for,  notwithstanding  the  indisputable  fact  that  till 
1600  her  head  was  included  among  the  terra  cotta  repre- 
sentations of  the  other  popes  in  the  Cathedral  of  Sienna, 
and  was  inscribed  "Johannes  VIII.,  Femina  de  Anglia," 
and  that  it  was  then  changed  into  a  head  of  Pope  Zacha- 
rias  by  the  Grand  Duke,  at  the  request  of  Pope  Clement 
VIII.,  the  story  is  now  generally  discredited.  But  there 
are  many  other  facts,  established  beyond  controversy, 
which  explain  fully  the  feeling  of  the  great  majority  of 
the  Italian  people  and  the  verdict  of  the  accredited  his- 
torians of  the  world.  When  the  penitential  Pope,  Adrian 
VI.  (i522-J23),  died  of  drinking  too  much  beer,  "the 
house  of  his  physician  was  hung  with  garlands  by  mid- 
night revellers,  and  decorated  with  the  inscription,  'Lib- 
eratori  Patriae,  S.  P.  Q.  R.' "  The  nepotism  of  the 
learned,  brilliant  and  witty  Paul  III.  "induced  him  to 
form  Parma  into  a  duchy  for  his  natural  son  Pierluigui, 
to  build  the  Farnese  Palace,  and  to  marry  his  grandson 
Ottavio  to  Marguerite,  natural  daughter  of  Charles  V." 
John  XII.,  the  first  Pope  who  took  a  new  name,  "scan- 
dalized Christendom  by  a  life  of  murder,  robbery,  adul- 
tery and  incest."  Of  the  tombs  of  the  eighty-seven  popes 
who  were  buried  in  the  old  basilica  of  St.  Peter's,  only 
two  were  replaced  when  the  present  building  was  erected, 
those  of  the  two  popes  who  lived  in  the  time  and  excited 
the  indignation  of  Savonarola  —  "Sixtus  IV.,  with  whose 
cordial  concurrence  the  assassination  of  Lorenzo  de' 
Medici  was  attempted,  and  Innocent  VIII.,  the  main 
object  of  whose  policy  was  to  secure  place  and  power 
for  his  illegitimate  children,"  sixteen  in  number,  and  who 
is  represented  on  his  tomb  as  holding  in  his  hand  the 
spear  of  "St.  Longinus,"  which  had  pierced  the  side  of 
Christ.  This  spear  was  sent  to  Innocent  VIII.  by  the 
Sultan  Bajazet,  nearly  fifteen  hundred  years  after  the 


306  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

crucifixion,  and,  as  we  have  already  seen,  is  now  pre- 
served in  St.  Peter's  as  one  of  its  four  chief  relics. 
Guicciardini  says  of  the  death  of  Alexander  VI.:  "All 
Rome  ran  with  indescribable  gladness  to  visit  the  corpse. 
Men  could  not  satiate  their  eyes  with  feeding  on  the  car- 
case of  the  serpent  who,  by  his  unbounded  ambition  and 
pestiferous  perfidy,  by  every  demonstration  of  horrible 
cruelty,  monstrous  lust  and  unheard-of  avarice,  selling 
without  distinction  things  sacred  and  profane,  had  filled 
the  world  with  venom." 

"Pope  Paul  V.  granted  dispensations  and  pensions  to 
any  persons  who  would  assassinate  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi; 
Pope  Pius  V.  offered,  as  Mr.  Froude  tells  us,  'remission 
of  sin  to  them  and  their  heirs,  with  annuities,  honors  and 
promotions,  to  any  cook,  brewer,  baker,  vintner,  physician, 
grocer,  surgeon,  or  others/  who  would  make  away  with 
Queen  Elizabeth ;  and  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  offered  a  high 
place  in  heaven  to  any  one  who  would  murder  the  Prince 
of  Orange ;  and  the  poor  wretch,  Balthazar  Gerard,  who 
did  the  infamous  deed,  actually  told  his  judges  'that  he 
would  soon  be  a  saint  in  heaven,  and  would  have  the  first 
place  there  next  to  God,'  whilst  his  family  received  a 
patent  of  nobility,  and  entered  into  the  possession  of  the 
estate  of  the  Prince  in  the  Franche  Comte  —  rewards 
promised  for  the  commission  of  the  crime  by  Cardinal 
Granvelle."  (Dr.  Alexander  Robertson's  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  Italy,  p.  94.) 

These  are  some  of  the  things  that  help  to  explain  not 
only  the  tone  of  the  pasquinades,  not  only  the  indictments 
of  the  world's  leading  historians,  which  are  to  be  presently 
cited,  but  also  the  present  attitude  of  something  like 
twenty  millions  of  the  thirty-odd  millions  of  Italy's  in- 
habitants, who  have  forsaken  the  church  altogether. 

What  idea  the  people  have  of  the  Jesuits  in  particular 


THE  LEGENDS  AND  THE  POPES.   307 

is  well  shown  by  the  legend  connected  with  the  Piazza 
del  Gesu,  the  great  open  space  in  front  of  the  Jesuit 
church,  which  is  considered  the  windiest  place  in  Rome. 
The  story  is  that  the  devil  and  the  wind  were  one  day 
taking  a  walk  together.  "When  they  came  to  this  square, 
the  devil,  who  seemed  to  be  very  devout,  said  to  the 
wind,  'Just  wait  a  minute,  mio  caro,  while  I  go  into  this 
church.'  So  the  wind  promised,  and  the  devil  went  into 
the  Gesu,  and  has  never  come  out  again  —  and  the  wind 
is  blowing  about  in  the  Piazza,  del  Gesu  to  this  day." 

's  ^ne  °^  ^  interesting  objects  in  Rome  is 
view  of  a  mutilated  statue  called  Pasquino,  which 
the  Pope.  stan(js  at  the  corner  of  the  Orsini  Palace, 
one  of  the  most  central  and  public  places  in  the  city.  The 
reason  for  the  interest  attaching  to  this  almost  shapeless 
piece  of  marble  is  that  for  centuries  it  was  used  for 
placarding  those  satires  upon  the  popes  which,  by  their 
exceeding  cleverness  and  biting  truth,  have  made  the 
name  of  pasquinade  famous  the  world  over.  No  squib 
that  was  ever  affixed  to  that  column  had  a  keener  edge 
than  the  one  known  as  "The  Antithesis  of  Christ,"  which 
appeared  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
runs  as  follows: 

Christ  said,  "My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world." 
The  Pope  conquers  cities  by  force. 

Christ  had  a  crown  of  thorns : 
The  Pope  wears  a  triple  diadem. 

Christ  washed  the  feet  of  his  disciples : 
The  Pope  has  his  kissed  by  kings. 

Christ  paid  tribute: 
The  Pope  takes  it. 

Christ  fed  the  sheep: 

The  Pope  wishes  to  be  master  of  the  world.  : 


308  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Christ  carried  on  his  shoulders  the  cross : 

The  Pope  is  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  his  servants  in  liveries 
of  gold. 

Christ  despised  riches: 

The  Pope  has  no  other  passion  than  for  gold. 

Christ  drove  out  the  merchants  from  the  temple : 
The  Pope  welcomes  them. 

Christ  preached  peace: 

The  Pope  is  the  torch  of  war. 

Christ  was  meekness: 

The  Pope  is  pride  personified. 

Christ  promulgated  the  laws  that  the  Pope  tramples  under  foot. 
"But,"  some  one  may  say,  "the  pasquinades 

What  the  ...  ,         ,  .,     \ 

Italians  were  written  long  ago,  and,  while  they  are 
now  Think  doubtless  true  descriptions  of  the  papacy  of 
the  past,  surely  no  one  would  take  the  same 
view  now."  For  answer  I  may  quote  the  statement  of 
Dr.  Raffaelle  Mariano,  Professor  of  Philosophy  in  the 
University  of  Naples,  who  is  not  a  Protestant,  but,  as  he 
tells  us,  was  "born  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,"  and 
was  "a  fervent  Catholic  from  infancy."  Speaking  of  the 
vast  difference  which  he  found  between  the  teachings  of 
the  church  and  those  of  the  New  Testament  as  to  what 
is  necessary  to  salvation,  he  says,  "Therefore,  Roman 
Catholicism  is  not  only  not  Christianity,  but  it  is  the  very 
antithesis  of  Christianity,"  a  statement  every  whit  as 
strong  as  Pasquino's.  Some  American  Protestants,  espe- 
cially those  who  have  personal  friends  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  whom  they  honor  and  love  —  and  there 
are  many  people  in  that  church  who  are  richly  worthy 
of  honor  and  love,  and  who  do  not  approve  of  the 
evils  we  have  been  describing  any  more  than  we  do  — 
are  sometimes  disposed  to  think  that  Protestant  writers 


THE  LEGENDS  AND  THE  POPES.   309 

are   too   severe   in   their  condemnation   of   the   Romish 
Church  as  a  system.    A  visit  to  Italy,  the  centre  of  Ro- 
manism,   would    quickly    disabuse    these    overcharitable 
Protestants  of  that  impression.     We  have  all  read  of 
such  things  as  are  described  above  in  connection  with 
the  relics  and  legends,  but  they  seem  far  away  and  unreal, 
and  almost  impossible,  until  we  come  to  the  home  of 
Romanism  and  find  them  all  around  us.    Then  it  ceases 
to  surprise  us  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  most 
intelligent  men  in  Italy  occupy  a  position  of  indifference 
and  unbelief,  or  hostility  and  scorn,  towards  the  Christian 
religion,  for  Romanism  is  the  only  Christianity  that  most 
of  them  know.    Let  it  be  remembered,  too,  that  the  King, 
able,  conscientious,  patriotic,  devoted  to  the  welfare  of 
his  people,  and  the  Prime  Minister,  Zanardelli,  like  his 
predecessor,  Crispi,  and  the  members  of  Parliament,  and 
the  army  and  navy,  and  the  whole  government  which  has 
given  Italy  such  wonderful  stability  and  prosperity  since 
the  overthrow  of  the  papal  dominion  and  opened  before 
the  nation  a  future  of  so  much  promise,  are  all  standing 
aloof  from  the  Pope.    Let  any  one  see  one  of  the  great 
pilgrimages  from  every  part  of  the  country  to  the  tomb 
of  Victor  Emmanuel,  who  freed  Italy,  as  we  saw  it  the 
other  day,  and  observe  the  immense  popularity  of  the 
great    liberator    and    his    successors    of    the    house    of 
Savoy,  and  let  him  note  the  firm  opposition  of  Italy's 
leading  men   to  the  papacy,  and  he  will   see  that  the 
view  of  the  Pope  which  the  secular  newspapers  so  per- 
sistently seek  to  force  upon  the  people  of  the  English- 
speaking  world  simply  cannot  be  that  of  the  thoughtful 
men  of  Italy. 

By  the  way,  I  see  plenty  of  women  confessing  to  the 
priests,  but  very,  very  few  men.  The  text-book  used  in 
the  training  of  priests  as  father-confessors,  and  the 


310  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

standard  work  of  the  church  on  that  subject,  approved 
by  Pope  Leo  XIII.,  is  LiguorFs  Moral  Philosophy.  "On 
July  14,  1901,  the  Asino,  a  daily  newspaper  published  in 
Rome,  printed  in  its  columns,  and  also  in  the  form  of  large 
bills,  which  it  caused  to  be  posted  up  in  public  places  in 
the  chief  cities  of  Italy,  a  challenge  offering-  one  thousand 
francs  to  any  Roman  Catholic  newspaper  which  would 
have  the  courage  to  print  the  Latin  text,  with  an  Italian 
translation,  of  two  passages  in  Liguori's  book,  which  it 
specified.  The  challenge  was  never  taken  up,  and  it  never 
will  be,  for  any  one  daring  to  publish  the  passages  named 
would  certainly  be  prosecuted  for  outraging  public  de- 
cency" (Dr.  Alexander  Robertson,  Roman  Catholic 
Church  in  Italy,  p.  149).  Hare  says,  "It  was  a  curious 
characteristic  of  the  laxity  of  morals  in  the  time  of 
Julius  II.  (i5O3-'i3),  that  her  friends  did  not  hesitate  to 
bury  the  famous  Aspasia  of  that  age  in  this  church  (St. 
Gregorio),  and  to  inscribe  upon  her  tomb :  'Imperia,  cor- 
tisana  Romana,  quae  digna  tanto  nomine,  rarae  inter 
homines  formae  specimen  dedit.'  .  .  .  But  this  monu- 
ment has  now  been  removed."  * 

Most  of  the  facts  above  cited,  especially  those  con- 
cerning the  legends  and  the  Popes,  except  where  specific 
acknowledgment  is  made  to  other  writers,  have  been 
drawn  from  Hare's  invaluable  Walks  in  Rome.  Let  us 

1  There  are  other  indications  of  some  improvement  in  this 
matter,  but  an  Anglican  resident  in  Italy,  quoted  by  the  Reviezv 
of  Reviews  as  "a  painstaking  and  fair-minded"  witness,  says, 
"People  are  not  shocked  by  clerical  immorality,  but  regard  it  as 
natural  and  inevitable."  To  an  Anglican  friend  a  Roman  prelate 
lamented  that  a  certain  cardinal  was  not  elected  at  the  late  con- 
clave. But  the  Anglican  replied,  "He  is  a  man  of  conspicuous 
immorality."  "No  doubt,"  was  the  answer,  "but  you  Americans 
seem  to  think  there  is  no  virtue  but  chastity.  The  Cardinal  has 
not  that,  but  he  is  an  honest  man." 


THE  LEGENDS  AND  THE  POPES.   311 

conclude  the  list  with  the  testimonies  of  a  few  eminent 
men  of  unimpeachable  competence  and  veracity  as  to  the 
character  and  influence  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  as 
a  system. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  his  History  of  Eng- 
MDCicklns'and  land>  Lord  M*caulay  says :  "From  the  time 
Gladstone  on  when  the  barbarians  overran  the  Western 
of  Romanism.  EmP^  to  the  time  of  the  revival  of  letters, 
the  influence  of  the  Church  of  Rome  had 
been  generally  favorable  to  science,  to  civilization,  to  good 
government.  But  during  the  last  three  centuries,  to  stunt 
the  growth  of  the  human  mind  has  been  her  chief  object. 
Throughout  Christendom,  whatever  advance  has  been 
made  in  knowledge,  in  freedom,  in  wealth,  and  in  the  arts 
of  life,  has  been  made  in  spite  of  her,  and  has  everywhere 
been  in  inverse  proportion  to  her  power.  The  loveliest 
and  most  fertile  provinces  of  Europe  have,  under  her  rule, 
been  sunk  in  poverty,  in  political  servitude,  and  in  intel- 
lectual torpor,  while  Protestant  countries,  once  proverbial 
for  sterility  and  barbarism,  have  been  turned  by  skill  and 
industry  into  gardens,  and  can  boast  of  a  long  list  of 
heroes  and  statesmen,  philosophers  and  poets.  Whoever, 
knowing  what  Italy  and  Scotland  naturally  are,  and  what, 
four  hundred  years  ago,  they  actually  were,  shall  now 
compare  the  country  round  Rome  with  the  country  round 
Edinburgh,  will  be  able  to  form  some  judgment  as  to  the 
tendency  of  papal  domination.  The  descent  of  Spain, 
once  the  first  among  the  monarchies,  to  the  lowest  depths 
of  degradation,  the  elevation  of  Holland,  in  spite  of  many 
natural  disadvantages,  to  a  position  such  as  no  common- 
wealth so  small  has  ever  reached,  teach  the  same  lesson. 
Whoever  passes  in  Germany  from  a  Roman  Catholic  to  a 
Protestant  principality,  in  Switzerland  from  a  Roman 
Catholic  to  a  Protestant  canton,  in  Ireland  from  a  Roman 


312  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Catholic  to  a  Protestant  county,  finds  that  he  has  passed 
from  a  lower  to  a  higher  grade  of  civilization.  On  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic  the  same  law  prevails.  The 
Protestants  of  the  United  States  have  left  far  behind  them 
the  Roman  Catholics  of  Mexico,  Peru  and  Brazil.  The 
Roman  Catholics  of  Lower  Canada  remain  inert,  while 
the  whole  continent  round  them  is  in  a  ferment  with 
Protestant  activity  and  enterprise.  The  French  have 
doubtless  shown  an  energy  and  intelligence  which,  even 
when  misdirected,  have  justly  entitled  them  to  be  called  a 
great  people.  But  this  apparent  exception,  when  ex- 
amined, will  be  found  to  confirm  the  rule,  for  in  no  coun- 
try that  is  called  Roman  Catholic  has  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  during  several  generations,  possessed  so  little 
authority  as  in  France." 

Charles  Dickens,  in  a  letter  written  from  Switzerland, 
in  1845,  to  ms  friend  and  biographer,  Forster,  says :  "In 
the  Simplon,  hard  by  here,  where  (at  the  bridge  of  St. 
Maurice  over  the  Rhone)  the  Protestant  canton  ends  and 
a  Catholic  canton  begins,  you  might  separate  two  per- 
fectly distinct  and  different  conditions  of  humanity  by 
drawing  a  line  with  your  stick  in  the  dust  on  the  ground. 
On  the  Protestant  side  —  neatness,  cheerfulness,  industry, 
education,  continued  aspiration,  at  least,  after  better 
things.  On  the  Catholic  side  —  dirt,  disease,  ignorance, 
squalor  and  misery.  I  have  so  constantly  observed  the 
like  of  this  since  I  came  abroad  that  I  have  a  sad  mis- 
giving that  the  religion  of  Ireland  lies  at  the  root  of  all 
its  sorrows."  Writing  from  Genoa,  in  1846,  Dickens 
says,  "If  I  were  a  Swiss,  with  a  hundred  thousand  pounds, 
I  would  be  as  steady  against  the  Catholic  canons  and  the 
propagation  of  Jesuitism  as  any  Radical  among  them; 
believing  the  dissemination  of  Catholicity  to  be  the  most 
horrible  means  of  political  and  social  degradation  left  in 
the  world." 


THE  LEGENDS  AND  THE  POPES.   313 

In  connection  with  Dickens'  remark  about  Ireland, 
we  may  quote  the  remarkable  statement  of  Mr.  Michael 
McCarthy,  himself  a  Roman  Catholic,  in  his  book,  Five 
Years  in  Ireland,  pp.  65  and  66,  where,  after  describing 
the  welcome  of  the  Belfast  Corporation  to  Lord  Cadogan 
on  his  first  visit,  in  1895,  to  the  Protestant  North  of 
Ireland,  and  their  glowing  statements  about  the  peaceful 
and  prosperous  condition  of  their  city  and  district,  he 
contrasts  this  happy  condition  with  the  unhappy  state  of 
the  "rest  of  Ireland,"  meaning  by  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
parts.  "In  the  rest  of  Ireland  there  is  no  social  or  indus- 
trial progress  to  record.  The  man  who  would  say  of  it 
that  it  was  'progressing  and  prospering,'  or  that  'its  work 
people  were  fully  employed,'  or  that  there  existed  'a  con- 
tinued development  of  its  industries/  or  that  its  towns 
'had  increased  in  value  and  population,'  would  be  set 
down  as  a  madman.  It  is  in  this  seven-eighths  of  Ireland 
that  the  growing  and  great  organization  of  the  Catholic 
Church  has  taken  root." 

Mr.  Gladstone,  in  an  article  on  "Italy  and  her  Church," 
in  the  Church  Quarterly  Revieiv  for  October,  1875,  saYs : 
"Profligacy,  corruption  and  ambition,  continued  for  ages, 
unitedly  and  severally,  their  destructive  work  upon  the 
country,  through  the  Curia  and  the  papal  chair;  and  in 
doing  it  they  of  course  have  heavily  tainted  the  faith  of 
which  that  chair  was  the  guardian."  Elsewhere  he  says, 
"There  has  never  been  any  more  cunning  blade  devised 
against  the  freedom,  the  virtue  and  the  happiness  of  a 
people  than  Romanism." 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  in  his  Marble  Faun,  which,  by 
the  way,  contains  the  most  charming  of  all  the  descriptive 
writing  about  Rome,  put  the  case  none  too  strongly  when 
he  spoke  of  being  "disgusted  with  the  pretense  of  holiness 
and  the  reality  of  nastiness,  each  equally  omnipresent" 


314  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

in  the  city  of  the  popes.  The  new  government  has 
wrought  a  great  change  in  this  respect,  and  Rome  is  in 
many  parts  of  it  now  quite  a  clean  city. 

There,  then,  are  the  facts  as  to  the  influence  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  I  am,  of  course,  very  far  from 
saying  that  there  are  no  good  people  in  that  church.  As 
I  have  already  stated,  I  believe  that  there  are  many  good 
people  in  it,  but  my  own  observation  has  satisfied  me 
that  the  verdict  of  history  as  to  the  baleful  influence  of 
the  system  is  absolutely  correct. 

"What,  then,"  some  one  may  ask,  "do  -the  good  people 
in  that  church  think  of  all  the  immoralities  and  frauds 
that  it  has  condoned  and  fostered?"  The  answer  is  that 
the  really  good  people  in  that  church  must  grieve  over 
them  and  deplore  them  just  as  the  good  people  in  other 
churches  do. 

P.  S. — It  is  generally  believed,  and  apparently  with 
good  reason,  that  the  new  Pope,  Pius  X.,  is  a  better  man 
than  many  of  his  predecessors,  and  that  he  cannot  be 
charged  with  the  immoralities  or  the  ambition  and  avarice 
which  characterized  them.  Let  us  hope  that  he  will  have 
the  courage  to  attempt  some  real  reform  in  the  lives  of 
many  of  his  clergy. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
THE  OLD  FORCES  AND  THE  NEW  IN  THE  ETERNAL  CITY. 

WELL,  we  have  seen  the  Pope.    Hearing  that  a  body 
of  Italian  pilgrims  were  to  be  received  by  the 
pontiff  at  the  Vatican,  and  having  assured  ourselves  that 
the  function  was  one  which  would  involve  no  official 
An  Audience        recognition  of  the  Pope  on  our  part,  and 
with  the  Pope,  that  we  should  be  merely  Protestant  specta- 
tors, we  gladly  accepted  the  offer  of  tickets  for  the  audi- 
ence, and,  supposing  in  our  simplicity  that,  as  the  recep- 
tion was  set  for  noon,  we  should  be  sufficiently  early  if 
we  went  at  eleven  o'clock,  we  drove  up  to  the  main  en- 
trance of  the  Vatican  at  that  hour.    There  was  a  great 
throng  of  people  about  the  door,  but  our  tickets  obtained 
for  us  immediate  entrance  along  with  a  stream  of  other 
ladies  and  gentlemen.     The  regulation  attire  for  these 
functions  is  full  evening  dress  for  gentlemen,  while  ladies 
wear  black,  with  no  hat,  but  with  a  lace  mantilla  on  the 
head.     We  first  passed  through  a  double  line  of  the 
famous  Swiss  Guards,  in  their  extraordinary  uniform  of 
crimson,  yellow  and  black,  designed  by  no  less  a  person 
than  Michael  Angelo.    Then  we  were  shown  up  the  great 
stairway,  and  passing  through  a  couple  of  large  rooms, 
one  of  which  was  adorned  with  Raphael's  frescoes,  we 
found  ourselves  at  the  entrance  of  a  long  and  spacious 
hall,  already  densely  crowded,  as  it  seemed  to  us,  but 
with  a  space  kept  open  down  the  centre  between  the  rows 
of  seats  on  either  side.     Looking  down  this  open  space, 
we  could  see  at  the  other  end,  on  a  slightly  raised  plat- 
form, the  pontifical  throne,  upholstered  in  red  velvet,  with 


316  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

golden  back  and  arms,  effectively  set  in  the  midst  of 
crimson  hang-ings,  which  swept  in  rich  masses  from  the 
lofty  ceiling  to  the  floor.  Preceded  by  guards,  we  trav- 
elled the  whole  length  of  the  hall,  and  found,  to  our  great 
gratification,  that  our  seats  were  quite  close  to  the  throne, 
so  that  we  had  an  excellent  position  for  seeing  and  hearing 
all  that  was  going  on.  We  soon  noticed  that  many  of  the 
hundreds  of  people  present,  like  some  of  us,  had  not  ob- 
served the  regulations  as  to  dress.  Many  others  had. 
Mingled  with  the  soberer  attire  of  the  spectators,  pilgrims 
and  priests,  we  saw  now  and  then  a  violet  cassock,  as 
one  bishop  after  another  drifted  in.  Apart  from  these 
vestments,  there  was  no  semblance  of  a  religious  gather- 
ing. It  was  more  like  a  social  function,  and  the  people 
were  chatting  gaily,  the  jolliest  and  noisiest  crowd  being 
a  group  of  young  seminarians,  prospective  priests,  who 
occupied  the  same  bench  with  us  and  the  two  or  three 
nearest  to  it.  After  we  had  been  there  an  hour  the  great 
clock  of  St.  Peter's  struck  twelve.  Instantly  all  the  noisy 
young  seminarians  rose  to  their  feet  and  began  to  recite, 
in  a  lower,  humming  tone,  their  Ave-Marias  and  Pater- 
Nosters.  As  soon  as  the  reciting  and  counting  of  beads 
was  over,  as  it  was  in  a  minute,  they  struck  in  again  with 
their  gay  conversation.  We  had  plenty  of  time  to  take 
it  all  in.  The  Pope  is  always  late,  and  it  was  an  hour 
after  the  time  fixed  for  the  audience  when  he  appeared ; 
but  at  last  he  did,  and  instantly  everybody,  men  and 
women,  sprang  up  on  the  henche?  and  chairs,  frantically 
waving  their  handkerchiefs  and  shouting  at  the  top  of 
their  voices,  "Evviva  il  Papa-Re!  Evviva  il  Papa-Re!" — 
"Long  live  the  Pope-King !  Long  live  the  Pope-King  !"- 
the  ablest  performer  in  this  part  of  the  ceremony  being 
a  leather-lunged  young  priest  at  my  elbow,  with  a  voice 
as  powerful  and  persistent  as  that  of  a  hungry  calf,  and 


THE  ETERNAL  CITY.  317 

who  made  known  his  desire  for  the  restoration  of  the 
temporal  power  to  the  Pope  with  such  energy  that  the 
perspiration  rolled  down  his  fat  face  in  shining  rivulets. 
I  never  heard  anything  like  it  except  in  a  political  con- 
vention or  a  stock  exchange.  Accompanied  by  the  Noble 
Guard,  a  body  of  picked  men  renowned  for  their  superb 
physique  and  clad  in  resplendent  uniform,  the  Holy 
Father  was  borne  in  on  an  arm-chair,  carried  by  twelve 
men,  also  in  uniform.  Occasionally  he  would  rise  to  his 
feet  with  evident  effort,  leaning  on,  or  rather  grasping, 
one  arm  of  his  chair,  and  bless  the  people  he  was  passing, 
with  two  fingers  outstretched  in  the  familiar  attitude  that 
we  have  seen  in  the  pictures.  At  such  times  the  furious 
acclamations,  and  waving  of  handkerchiefs,  and  clapping 
of  hands,  would  be  redoubled.  He  passed  within  arm's 
length  of  us,  a  little  knot  of  Protestants,  silent  amid  the 
uproar.  It  was  a  pitiful  spectacle.  A  pallid,  feeble,  tot- 
tering old  man,  with  slender,  shrunken  neck,  and  exces- 
sively sharp  and  prominent  features,  nose  and  chin  almost 
meeting  —  we  now  understood  Zola's  description :  "The 
simious  ugliness  of  his  face,  the  largeness  of  his  nose,  the 
long  slit  of  his  mouth,  the  hugeness  of  his  ears,  the  con- 
flicting jumble  of  his  withered  features."  But  out  of  this 
waxen  face  peered  a  pair  of  brilliant  dark  eyes,  the  only 
sign  of  real  vitality  about  him.  When  he  had  been  care- 
fully lowered  by  the  chair-bearers,  and  had  taken  his 
throne  on  the  platform,  with  his  attendants  ranged  round 
him,  the  spokesman  of  the  pilgrims  came  forward  and 
read  an  address,  to  which  the  Pope's  amanuensis,  stand- 
ing by  his  side,  read  a  brief  reply.  Then  the  Pope  pro- 
nounced the  benediction  in  a  surprisingly  clear  voice,  after 
which  the  pilgrims  were  introduced  individually,  not  all 
of  them,  but  a  certain  number  of  representative  persons 
among  them.  These  all  knelt  and  kissed  his  hand.  When 


318  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

this  ceremony  was  over  the  audience  closed,  and  the  Pon- 
tiff was  borne  out  as  he  came  in,  amid  wild  applause. 
.    _     ,  _         On  the  third  of  March,  while  I   was   in 

The  Pope's  Last 

jubilee  in  Egypt,  our  party  in  Rome  saw  a  much 
St.  Peter's.  more  imposing  ceremony  than  the  one  I 
have  just  described.  Every  one  has  noticed  how  numer- 
ous the  papal  jubilees  have  been  during  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century,  every  year  or  so  seeing  the  celebration  of 
some  jubilee  of  the  Pope's  official  life.  In  twenty-one 
years  he  has  had  no  less  than  fourteen  of  them.  Their 
frequency  should  not  surprise  us  when  we  remember  that 
each  of  them  turns  a  vast  stream  of  gifts  and  money 
into  the  papal  treasury  from  every  part  of  the  world. 
One  of  my  correspondents  writes  me  that  for  the  cele- 
bration of  March  3rd  both  sides  of  the  nave  of  St.  Peter's 
were  lined  with  pens  or  boxes,  all  free  except  those  near 
the  high  altar,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  nave  a  passage 
about  fifteen  feet  wide  was  railed  off  for  the  procession. 
"We  drove  to  St.  Peter's  through  a  pouring  rain  about 
7 :  45  A.  M.  The  building  was  already  packed  with  people. 
It  is  estimated  that  there  were  fifty  thousand  of  us  by 
eleven  o'clock.  We  walked  down  the  left  aisle  and  took 
our  position  at  the  base  of  a  pillar,  where  we  could  see 
the  Pope  as  he  entered  from  the  right  aisle.  There  we 
waited  from  eight  o'clock  till  after  eleven.  He  was  an 
hour  late.  Finally,  we  heard  the  silver  trumpets  sounding 
from  the  gallery  in  the  dome.  His  guards  preceded  him, 
and  other  attendants  bearing  swords,  maces  and  a  cross. 
The  caps  indicating  the  offices  he  filled  before  he  became 
Pope  were  carried  on  cushions  by  three  cardinals.  He 
was  himself  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  twelve  men, 
dressed  in  rich  red  costumes.  The  Pope  sat  in  his  red 
and  gold  chair,  richly  robed  in  white  satin  embroidered 
with  gold.  He  wore  a  crown  of  the  same  materials,  white 


THE  ETERNAL  CITY.  319 

silk  mits,  and  a  large  ring.  When  he  entered  the  nave 
he  stood  and  blessed  the  people,  holding  up  two  fingers. 
The  music  was  fine.  We  heard  the  singing  as  it  came 
nearer  and  nearer,  but  as  soon  as  the  Pope  appeared  the 
people  broke  into  shouts,  waving  handkerchiefs,  and 
making  so  much  noise  that  we  could  no  longer  hear  the 
music.  We  left  after  five  hours." 

Later  in  the  season  those  members  of  our  party  who 
remained  in  Rome  while  we  were  travelling  through 
Egypt  and  Palestine,  had  very  satisfactory  views  of  King 
Edward  VII.  of  England  and  William  II.,  the  Emperor 
of  Germany,  on  their  visits  to  Rome.  As  they  had  seen 
the  Prince  of  Wales  in  London,  and  young  Prince  Ed- 
ward, who  will  also  be  King  of  England  some  day  if 
he  lives,  and  the  other  royal  children  at  Marlborough 
House,  and  as  they  have  repeatedly  seen  King  Victor 
Emmanuel  and  Queen  Helena,  they  have  had  unusual 
opportunities  for  seeing  for  themselves  whether  the  roy- 
alties are  made  of  common  clay.  I  must  say  for  them 
that  they  are  stauncher  than  ever  in  their  devotion  to 
the  republican  ideals  of  our  own  country.  Their  oppor- 
tunities for  seeing  these  royalties  were  better  than  those 
enjoyed  by  most  visitors  to  Rome,  because  their  rooms 
overlooked  the  palace  and  grounds  of  the  Queen  mother, 
Marguerita,  and  King  Edward  and  the  Kaiser,  like 
other  royal  visitors  to  Rome,  made  it  their  first  business 
to  call  on  her.  She  is  still  the  most  beloved  woman  in 
Italy. 

The    location    of   our    rooms    was   advan- 

Our  Quarters 

on  the  Pincian    tageous  in  many  other  respects.     1  hey  were 

HUL  high  up  in  the  southwestern  corner  of  a 

tall  building  on  the  Pincian  Hill,  so  high  that  we  could 

look  clear  across  the  city  to  the  Sabine  Mountains.    As 

soon  as  the  sun  rose  over  the  eastern  hills  he  looked 


320  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

cheerily  into  our  windows,  and  continued  his  genial  com- 
panionship with  us  till  he  sank  into  the  Mediterranean 
at  night.  We  had  selected  the  rooms  with  a  view  to 
this  particularly,  remembering  the  Italian  proverb  that 
"When  the  sun  goes  out  of  the  window,  the  doctor  comes 
in  at  the  door."  A  room  on  the  north  side  of  a  building 
should  never  be  taken.  The  Roman  winter  is  short  but 
sharp.  We  could  see  snow  on  the  mountains  during 
nearly  the  whole  of  our  stay,  which  in  the  case  of  the 
majority  of  us  was  five  months.  Then,  too,  we  were 
close  to  the  city  wall,  and  to  the  gate  which  led  out 
into  the  lovely  Borghese  Gardens,  "whose  wooded  and 
flowery  lawns  are  more  beautiful  than  the  finest  English 
park  scenery,"  where  "the  stone  pines  lift  their  dense 
clumps  of  branches  upon  a  slender  length  of  stem,  so 
high  that  they  look  like  green  islands  in  the  air,  flinging 
down  a  shadow  upon  the  turf  so  far  off  that  you  scarcely 
know  which  tree  made  it" ;  where  there  are  "avenues  of 
cypress,  resembling  dark  flames  of  huge  funeral  candles, 
which  spread  dusk  and  twilight  round  about  them,  instead 
of  cheerful  radiance";  and  where  ancient  and  majestic 
ilex  trees  "lean  over  the  green  turf  in  ponderous  grace. 
.  .  .  Never  was  there  a  more  venerable  quietude  than 
that  which  sleeps  among  their  sheltering  boughs ;  never 
a  sweeter  sunshine  than  that  which  gladdens  the  gentle 
gloom  which  these  leafy  patriarchs  strive  to  diffuse  over 
the  swelling  and  subsiding  lawns."  Moreover,  our  quar- 
ters were  within  so  short  a  walk  of  the  park  on  the  Pincio 
(where  the  band  plays  every  afternoon,  and  where  all 
Rome  drives  round  and  round  the  little  circle  at  the  top), 
and  of  the  terrace  of  the  Villa  Medici,  that  we  were 
drawn  thither  day  after  day  to  watch  the  picturesque 
groups  of  models  lounging  in  the  wintry  sun  on  the  great 
flight  of  steps  that  lead  from  the  Church  of  Trinita  de' 


THE  ETERNAL  CITY.  321 

Monti  down  to  the  Piazza,  di  Spagna,  to  muse  over  the 
Eternal  City  spread  out  below  us,  with  the  dome  of  St. 
Peter's,  in  the  distance,  standing  out  against  a  sky  of 
gold,  and,  above  allj  to  watch  "the  light  that  broods  over 
the  fallen  sun."  Nowhere  in  the  world,  at  least  so  far 
as  my  observation  of  it  extends,  is  this  wonderful  glow 
which  suffuses  all  the  western  sky  with  crimson,  orange 
and  violet  lights  after  the  sun  goes  down  —  nowhere  else 
is  this  afterglow  at  once  so  rich  and  so  delicate  as  at 
Rome. 

But  it  is  from  the  Janiculan  Hill,  on  the 
Th  History  seen    other  side  of  the  Tiber,  that  one  gets  the 
from  the          most    comprehensive    view    of    the    city. 
Among  other  things  that  take  the  eye  from 
that  commanding  point  there  are  three  hills  which  may 
be  said  to  epitomize  the  history  of  Rome:    on  the  east 
the  Palatine,  where,  as  its  name  intimates,  the  palaces 
of  the  Caesar's  stood,  representing  the  culmination  of  the 
glory  of  pagan  Rome;  on  the  west,  the  Vatican,  where, 
as  its  name  suggests,  a  prophet  ought  to  dwell,  though 
1  fear  he  does  not,  and  where  St.  Peter's,  with  its  "inso- 
lent opulence  of  marble"  and  its  colossal  apotheosis  of 
the  popedom,  represents  the  culmination  of  the  glory  of 
papal  Rome ;   and,  immediately  in  front,  in  the  centre  of 
the  city,  the  Quirinal,  where  Victor  Emmanuel's  royal 
house  stands,  representing  the  new  government  of  free 
and  united  Italy.     From  his  windows  in  the  Quirinal 
Palace,  the  King  can  look  across  the  intervening  city  to 
the  windows  of  that  other  palace  where  the  relentless  foe 
of  his  government  lives,  that  vast,  luxurious  "prison"  of 
the  Vatican,  with  its  eleven  thousand  rooms,  the  largest 
palace  in  the  world,  with  its  museums  and  libraries  filled 
with  priceless  treasures,  and  with  its  extensive  gardens 
and  grounds. 


322  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

.  Zola  has  pointed  out  how  persistent,  through  all  these 
three  periods  of  Rome's  history,  has  been  that  passion 
for  cyclopean  building,  the  "blossoming  of  that  ancient 
sap,  peculiar  to  the  soil  of  Rome,  which  in  all  ages  has 
thrown  up  preposterous  edifices,  of  exaggerated  hugeness 
and  dazzling  and  ruinous  luxury."  First,  the  pagan  em- 
perors set  the  pace,  and  of  their  work  we  may  take  the 
Colosseum  and  the  Baths  of  Caracalla  as  specimens. 
The  coiosseum  "The  Colosseum.  Ah  !  that  colossus,  only 
and  the  Baths  one-half  or  so  of  which  has  been  destroyed 

ofCaracalla. 


scythe,  it  rises  in  its  enormity  and  majesty  like  a  stone 
lace-work,  with  hundreds  of  empty  bays  agape  against 
the  blue  of  heaven!  There  is  a  world  of  halls,  stairs, 
landings  and  passages,  a  world  where  one  loses  one's 
self  amid  the  death-like  silence  and  solitude.  The  fur- 
rowed tiers  of  seats,  eaten  into  by  the  atmosphere,  are 
like  shapeless  steps  leading  down  into  some  old  extinct 
crater,  some  natural  circus  excavated  by  the  force  of  the 
elements  in  indestructible  rock.  The  hot  suns  of  eighteen 
hundred  years  have  baked  and  scorched  this  ruin,  which 
has  reverted  to  a  state  of  nature,  bare  and  golden-brown 
like  a  mountain  side,  since  it  has  been  stripped  of  its 
vegetation,  the  flora  which  once  made  it  like  a  virgin 
forest.  And  what  an  evocation  when  the  mind  sets  flesh 
and  blood  and  life  again  on  all  that  dead  osseous  frame- 
work, fills  the  circus  with  the  ninety  thousand  spectators 
which  it  could  hold,  marshals  the  games  and  the  combats 
of  the  arena,  gathers  a  whole  civilization  together,  from 
the  emperor  and  the  dignitaries  to  the  surging  plebeian 
sea,  all  aglow  with  the  agitation  and  brilliancy  of  an 
impassioned  people,  assembled  under  the  ruddy  reflection 
of  the  giant  purple  velum.  And  then,  yet  further  on  the 
horizon,  were  other  cyclopean  ruins,  the  Baths  of  Cara- 


THE  ETERNAL  CITY.  323 

calla,  standing  there  like  relics  of  a  race  of  giants  long 
since  vanished  from  the  world:  halls  extravagantly  and 
inexplicably  spacious  and  lofty ;  vestibules  large  enough 
for  an  entire  population ;  a  frigidarium,  where  five  hun- 
dred people  could  swim  together;  a  tepidarium  and  a 
calidarium  on  the  same  proportions,  born  of  a  wild  crav- 
ing for  the  huge;  and  then  the  terrific  massiveness  of 
the  structures,  the  thickness  of  the  piles  of  brick-work, 
such  as  no  feudal  castle  ever  knew ;  and,  in  addition,  the 
general  immensity  which  makes  passing  visitors  look  like 
lost  ants;  one  wonders  for  what  men,  for  what  multi- 
tudes, this  monstrous  edifice  was  reared.  To-day  you 
would  say  a  mass  of  rocks  in  the  rough  thrown  from 
some  height  for  building  the  abode  of  Titans." 
The  pa  ai  Then  the  Popes,  when  they  came  to  power, 

Passion  for     followed  this  pagan  example,  moved  by  the 
Terrestrial      same  Spirjt  of  conqU€st    the  same  human 

Immortality.  , 

vanity,  the  same  passionate  desire  to  set 
their  names  on  imperishable  walls,  and,  after  dominating 
the  world,  to  leave  behind  them  indestructible  traces, 
tangible  proofs  of  their  passing  glory,  eternal  edifices  of 
bronze  and  marble,  to  attest  that  glory  till  the  end  of 
time.  "Among  the  illustrious  popes  there  has  not  been 
one  that  did  not  seek  to  build,  did  not  revert  to  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  Caesars,  eternizing  their  reigns  in  stone 
and  raising  temples  for  resting-places,  so  as  to  rank 
among  the  gods.  Ever  the  same  passion  for  terrestrial 
immortality  has  burst  forth:  it  has  been  a  battle  as  to 
who  should  leave  the  highest,  most  substantial,  most  gor- 
geous monument ;  and  so  acute  has  been  the  disease  that 
those  who,  for  lack  of  means  and  opportunity,  have  been 
unable  to  build,  and  have  been  forced  to  content  them- 
selves with  repairing,  have,  nevertheless,  desired  to  be- 
queath the  memory  of  their  modest  achievements  to  sub- 


324  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

sequent  generations  by  commemorative  marble  slabs  en- 
graved with  pompous  inscriptions.  These  slabs  are  to 
be  seen  on  every  side ;  not  a  wall  has  ever  been  strength- 
ened but  some  pope  has  stamped  it  with  his  arms,  not  a 
ruin  has  been  restored,  not  a  palace  repaired,  not  a  foun- 
tain cleaned,  but  the  reigning  pope  has  signed  the  work 
with  his  Roman  and  pagan  title  of  Tontifex  Maximus.' 1 
It  is  a  haunting  passion,  a  form  of  involuntary  de- 
bauchery, the  fated  florescence  of  that  compost  of  ruins, 
that  dust  of  edifices  whence  new  edifices  are  ever  arising. 
And  given  the  perversion  with  which  the  old  Roman  soil 
almost  immediately  tarnished  the  doctrines  of  Jesus,  that 
resolute  passion  for  domination,  and  that  desire  for  ter- 
restrial glory  which  wrought  the  triumph  of  Catholicism 
in  scorn  of  the  humble  and  pure,  the  fraternal  and  simple 
ones  of  the  primitive  church,  one  may  well  ask  whether 
Rome  has  ever  been  Christian  at  all." 

And,  finally,  the  new  government  of  Victor 

The  Building  _  /    , 

Boom  under       Emmanuel,  for  a  time  at  least,  was  caught 
the  New  m  fa&  same  current,  infected  with  the  same 

Government.  .-,.,,.  ,     , 

mama  for  building  that  seems  to  exhale 
from  the  very  soil  of  the  Eternal  City.  As  the  popes 
had  not  become  masters  of  Rome  without  feeling  im- 
pelled to  rebuild  it  in  their  passion  to  rule  over  the  world, 
so  young  Italy,  "yielding  to  the  hereditary  madness  of 
universal  domination,  had  in  its  turn  sought  to  make  the 
city  larger  than  any  other,  erecting  whole  districts  for 
people  who  never  came."  But,  fortunately  for  Italy,  the 
old  idea  was  not  unmixed  with  newer  and  better  ones. 
Their  first  delirious  outburst  of  huge  building  operations 
has  been  explained  as  "a  legitimate  explosion  of  the  de- 

1  On  the  Appian  Way,  beyond  the  tomb  of  Cecilia  Metella,  a 
marble  tablet  has  been  placed,  informing  all  men  that  here  Pius 
IX.  once  at  his  lunch. 


THE  ETERNAL  CITY.  325 

light  and  the  hopes  of  a  young  nation  anxious  to  show 
its  power.  The  question  was  to  make  Rome  a  modern 
capital  worthy  of  a  great  kingdom,  and  before  aught  else 
there  were  sanitary  requirements  to  be  dealt  with;  the 
city  needed  to  be  cleansed  of  all  the  filth  which  disgraced 
it.  One  cannot  nowadays  imagine  in  what  abominable 
putrescence  the  City  of  the  Popes,  the  Roma  sporca  which 
artists  regret,  was  then  steeped :  the  vast  majority  of  the 
houses  lacked  even  the  most  primitive  arrangements,  the 
public  thoroughfares  were  used  for  all  purposes,  noble 
ruins  served  as  store-places  for  sewage,  the  princely 
palaces  were  surrounded  by  filth,  and  the  streets  were 
perfect  manure  beds,  which  fostered  frequent  epidemics. 
Thus,  vast  municipal  works  were  absolutely  necessary; 
the  question  was  one  of  health  and  life  itself.  And  in 
much  the  same  way  it  was  only  right  to  think  of  building 
houses  for  the  new  comers  who  would  assuredly  flock 
into  the  city.  There  had  been  a  precedent  at  Berlin, 
whose  population,  after  the  establishment  of  the  German 
Empire,  had  suddenly  increased  by  some  hundreds  of 
thousands.  In  the  same  way  the  population  of  Rome 
would  certainly  be  doubled,  tripled,  quadrupled,  for,  as 
the  new  centre  of  national  life,  the  city  would  necessarily 
attract  all  the  vis  viva  of  the  provinces.  And  at  this 
thought  pride  stepped  in;  the  fallen  government  of  the 
Vatican  must  be  shown  what  Italy  was  capable  of  achiev- 
ing, what  splendor  she  would  bestow  on  the  new  and 
third  Rome,  which,  by  the  magnificence  of  its  thorough- 
fares and  the  multitude  of  its  people,  would  far  excel 
either  the  imperial  or  the  papal  city."  We  need  not  follow 
the  melancholy  story  of  this  delusion.  The  boom  had  a 
disastrous  collapse,  and  the  city  was  left  full  of  vast,  pre- 
tentious, flimsy,  deserted  palaces.  The  best  thing  about 
them  is  that  they  are  perishable.  The  lesson,  happily, 


326  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

was  not  lost  on  the  men  of  the  new  order  in  Italy,  and 
they  seem  at  last  to  have  extricated  themselves  from  the 
toils  of  that  miasmatic  megalo-mania.  .  The  government 
is  sane,  sound,  conservative,  proceeding  with  care  and 
deliberation  in  its  upbuilding  of  the  country,  understand- 
ing the  meaning  of  the  proverb  that  "Rome  was  not  built 
in  a  day,"  and  it  has  already  given  the  country  more 
security  and  prosperity  than  it  has  enjoyed  for  many, 
many  centuries.  If  it  can  continue  to  maintain  itself 
against  the  priests,  there  is  undoubtedly  a  bright  future 
before  Italy. 

But  can  it  maintain  itself  against  the  priests  ?  I  think 
so.  Yet  a  man  would  be  blind  indeed  who  could  not 
see  their  number,  power  and  activity.  Rome  swarms 
with  them.  Speaking  of  the  incredible  number  of  cas- 
socks that  one  encounters  in  the  streets,  Zola  says :  "Ah ! 
that  ebb  and  flow;  that  ceaseless  tide  of  black  gowns 
and  frocks  of  every  hue!  With  their  processions  of  stu- 
dents ever  walking  abroad,  the  seminaries  of  the  different 
nations  would  alone  suffice  to  drape  and  decorate  the 
streets,  for  there  are  the  French  and  the  English  all  in 
black,  the  South  Americans  in  black  with  blue  sashes, 
the  North  Americans  in  black  with  red  sashes,  the  Poles 
in  black  with  green  sashes,  the  Greeks  in  blue,  the  Ger- 
mans in  red,  the  Scots  in  violet,  the  Romans  in  black  or 
violet  or  purple,  the  Bohemians  with  chocolate  sashes, 
the  Irish  with  red  lappets,  the  Spaniards  with  blue  cords, 
to  say  nothing  of  all  the  others  with  broidery  and  bind- 
ings and  buttons  in  a  hundred  different  styles.  And,  in 
addition,  there  are  the  confraternities,  the  penitents, 
white,  black,  blue  and  gray,  with  sleeveless  frocks  and 
capes  of  different  hue,  gray,  blue,  black  or  white.  And 
thus,  even  nowadays,  papal  Rome  at  times  seems  to  resus- 
citate, and  one  can  realize  how  tenaciously  and  vigorously 


THE  ETERNAL  CITY.  327 

she  struggles  on  in  order  that  she  may  not  disappear  in 
the  cosmopolitan  Rome  of  the  new  era."  Yes,  Italy  will 
escape  from  the  clutches  of  the  papacy,  but  she  will  have 
to  work.  There  must  be  no  relaxation  of  vigilance  or 
energy  on  her  part  —  or  on  ours.  For  this  multitude  of 
young  priests  from  every  part  of  the  world  spells  menace 
for  other  lands  besides  Italy. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
THE  Two  TYPES  OF  RELIGION  IN  ROME. 

ONLY  three  or  four  blocks  from  our  hotel  stands  the 
Church  of  the  Cappuccini,  which  contains  one  of 
the  most  gruesome  sights  in  Rome,  the  celebrated  ceme- 
tery of  the  Cappuccini  monks,  the  soil  of  which  was 
TheCappucini  brought  from  Jerusalem.  All  Roman  Cath- 
cemetery.  o\[c  cemeteries  have  a  peculiarly  melancholy 
aspect.  They  have  none  of  that  gentle  beauty  which  is 
so  characteristic  of  our  cemeteries,  where  the  grass  grows 
green  under  the  open  sky  or  great  trees  cast  their  peaceful 
shade  over  "God's  acre."  But  this  is  the  most  weird  and 
ghastly  of  them  all.  There  are  four  recesses  or  chapels 
underneath  the  church,  the  pillars  and  pilasters  of  which 
are  made  of  thigh-bones  and  skulls,  the  architectural 
ornaments  being  represented  by  the  joints  of  the  spine, 
and  the  more  delicate  tracery  by  the  smaller  bones  of 
the  human  frame.  "The  summits  of  the  arches  are 
adorned  with  entire  skeletons,  looking  as  if  they  were 
wrought  most  skillfully  in  bas-relief.  There  is  no  possi- 
bility of  describing  how  ugly  and  grotesque  is  the  effect. 
.  .  .  On  some  of  the  skulls  there  are  inscriptions, 
purporting  that  such  a  monk,  who  formerly  made  use 
of  that  particular  head-piece,  died  on  such  a  day  and 
year;  but  vastly  the  greater  number  are  piled  up  undis- 
tinguishably  into  the  architectural  design.  ...  In  the 
side  walls  of  the  vaults  are  niches  where  skeleton  monks 
sit  or  stand,  clad  in  the  brown  habits  that  they  wore  in 
life.  .  .  .  Yet  let  us  give  the  cemetery  the  praise  that 
it  deserves.  There  is  no  disagreeable  scent,  such  as  might 


RELIGION  IN  ROME.  329 

have  been  expected  from  the  decay  of  so  many  holy 
persons,  in  whatever  odor  of  sanctity  they  may  have 
taken  their  departure.  The  same  number  of  living  monks 
would  not  smell  half  so  unexceptionably."  So  Haw- 
thorne says,  and  I  have  spared  my  readers  the  most  dis- 
agreeable parts  of  his  description. 

The  allusion  in  his  last  sentence  is  one  which  is  jus- 
tified by  the  olfactory  organs  of  every  visitor  to  Rome. 
The  vices  which  were  encouraged  in  the  magnificent  baths 
of  the  emperors,  and  which  have  given  the  word  bagnio 
an  evil  signification  the  world  over,  "found  their  reaction 
in  the  impression  of  the  early  Christians  that  unclean- 
liness  was  a  virtue,  an  impression  which  is  retained  by 
several  of  the  monastic  orders  to  the  present  day."  We 
sometimes  weary  of  the  superabundant  advertisements 
of  the  different  kinds  of  soap  in  the  advertising  pages 
of  our  monthly  magazines.  But  what  a  wholesome  sign 
it  is!  And  what  a  difference  it  marks  between  us  and 
the  average  Italian !  And  what  a  field  for  their  business 
would  be  opened  to  Mr.  Pears  and  the  rest  if  only  the 
monks  would  adopt  the  view  that  "cleanliness  is  next  to 
godliness,"  and  that,  therefore,  soap  might  be  regarded 
as  a  sort  of  means  of  grace ! 

Mark  Twain  once  described  what  he  would 

Some  Differ-  . ..   ,  .  ,    T,    «  ,    , j 

ences  between    say,  if  he  were  a  native  of  Italy,  and  had 

America  been  on  a  visit  to  the  United  States,  and 

had  come  back  to  the  Campagna  for  the 

purpose  of  telling  his  Italian  countrymen  what  he  had 

seen  in  America:    "One  hardly  ever  sees  a  minister  of 

the  gospel  going  around  there  in  his  bare  feet,  with  a 

basket,   begging   for  subsistence.     In   that  country  the 

preachers  are  not  like  our  mendicant  orders  of  friars  — 

they  have  two  or  three  suits  of  clothing,  and  they  wash 

sometimes."  "I  saw  common  men  and  common 


22 


330  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

women  who  could  read;  I  even  saw  small  children  of 
common  country  people  reading  from  books;  if  I  dared 
think  you  would  believe  it,  I  would  say  they  could  write, 
also.  ...  I  saw  real  glass  windows  in  the  houses  of 
even  the  commonest  people.  Some  of  the  houses  are  not 
of  stone,  nor  yet  of  bricks;  I  solemnly  swear  they  are 
made  of  wood.  Houses  there  will  take  fire  and  burn, 
sometimes  —  actually  burn  entirely  down,  and  not  leave 
a  single  vestige  behind.  I  could  state  that  for  a  truth 
upon  my  death-bed.  And,  as  a  proof  that  the  circum- 
stance is  not  rare,  I  aver  that  they  have  a  thing  which 
they  call  a  fire-engine,  which  vomits  forth  great  streams 
of  water,  and  is  kept  always  in  readiness,  by  night  and 
by  day,  to  rush  to  houses  that  are  burning.  You  would 
think  one  engine  would  be  sufficient,  but  some  great  cities 
have  a  hundred;  they  keep  men  hired,  and  pay  them 
by  the  month  to  do  nothing  but  put  out  fires.1  ...  In 
that  singular  country  if  a  rich  man  dies  a  sinner,  he  is 
damned ;  he  cannot  buy  salvation  with  money  for  masses. 
There  is  really  not  much  use  in  being  rich  there.  Not 
much  use  as  far  as  the  other  world  is  concerned,  but 
much,  very  much,  use  as  concerns  this;  because  there, 
if  a  man  be  rich,  he  is  very  greatly  honored,  and  can  be- 
come a  legislator,  a  governor,  a  general,  a  senator,  no 
matter  how  ignorant  an  ass  he  is  —  just  as  in  our  beloved 
Italy  the  nobles  hold  all  the  great  places,  even  though 
sometimes  they  are  born  noble  idiots.  There,  if  a  man 
be  rich,  they  give  him  costly  presents,  they  ask  him  to 
feasts,  they  invite  him  to  drink  complicated  beverages; 

1  Few  things  struck  our  boys  so  much  as  the  non-occurrence 
of  fires  in  Rome,  and  the  absence  of  all  apparatus  for  extin- 
guishing them,  and  on  our  return  to  America  few  things  seemed 
so  strange  to  us  at  first  as  the  frame  houses  in  the  New  Jersey 
towns  along  the  Pennsylvania  railroad. 


RELIGION  IN  ROME.  331 

but  if  he  be  poor  and  in  debt,  they  require  him  to  do  that 
which  they  term  to  'settle.'  ...  In  that  country  you 
might  fall  from  a  third-story  window  three  several  times 
and  not  mash  either  a  soldier  or  a  priest.  .  .  .  Jews 
there  are  treated  just  like  human  beings,  instead  of  dogs. 
.  .  .  They  never  have  had  to  run  races  naked  through 
the  public  streets  against  jackasses  to  please  the  people 
in  carnival  time;  there  they  never  have  been  driven  by 
the  soldiers  into  a  church  every  Sunday  for  hundreds 
of  years  to  hear  themselves  and  their  religion  especially 
and  particularly  cursed."  1 

The  piayfui         While  I  have  Mark  Twain  in  hand,  I  will 
inquisition,     make  two  more  quotations  from  him,  and 
then  dismiss  him  for  good.    Looking  from  the  dome  of 
St.  Peter's  upon  the  building  which  was  once  the  In- 
quisition, he  says :  "How  times  are  changed,  between  the 
older  ages  and  the  new!     Some  seventeen  or  eighteen 
centuries  ago,  the  ignorant  men  of  Rome  were  wont  to 
put  Christians  in  the  arena  of  the  Coliseum  yonder,  and 
turn  the  wild  beasts  in  upon  them  for  a  show.     It  was 
for  a  lesson  as  well.    It  was  to  teach  the  people  to  abhor 
and  fear  the  new  doctrine  the  followers  of  Christ  were 
teaching.     The  beasts  tore  the  victims  limb  from  limb, 
and  made  poor  mangled  corpses  of  them  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye.     But  when  the  Christians  came  into  power, 
when  the  holy  Mother  Church  became  mistress  of  the 
barbarians,  she  taught  them  the  error  of  their  ways  by 
no  such  means.     No,  she  put  them  in  this  pleasant  In- 
quisition, and  pointed  to  the  blessed  Redeemer,  who  was 
so  gentle  and  so  merciful  toward  all  men,  and  they  urged 
the^barbarians  to  love  him;  and  they  did  all  they  could 

^his  custom  of  compelling  Jews  to  listen  to  Christian  ser- 
mons was  only  abolished  in  1848,  under  Pius  IX.,  through 
influence  of  Michelangelo  Caetani,  Duke  of  Sermoneta. 


332  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

to  persuade  them  to  love  and  honor  him  —  first  by  twist- 
ing their  thumbs  out  of  joint  with  a  screw;  then  by 
nipping  their  flesh  with  pincers  —  red-hot  ones,  because 
they  are  the  most  comfortable  in  cold  weather;  then  by 
skinning  them  alive  a  little,  and  finally  by  roasting  them 
in  public.  They  always  convinced  those  barbarians.  The 
true  religion,  properly  administered,  as  the  good  Mother 
Church  used  to  administer  it,  is  very,  very  soothing.  It 
is  wonderfully  persuasive,  also.  There  is  a  great  differ- 
ence between  feeding  parties  to  wild  beasts  and  stirring 
up  their  finer  feelings  in  an  Inquisition.  One  is  the 
system  of  degraded  barbarians,  the  other  of  enlightened, 
civilized  people.  It  is  a  great  pity  the  playful  Inquisition 
is  no  more." 

Speaking  of  a  mosaic  group  at  the  side  of 
the  Scala  Santa  which  represents  the  Sav- 
iour,  St.  Peter,  Pope  Leo,  St.  Silvester, 
Constantine  and  Charlemagne,  he  says: 
"Peter  is  giving  the  pallium  to  the  Pope, 
and  a  standard  to  Charlemagne.  The  Saviour  is  giving 
the  keys  to  St.  Silvester,  and  a  standard  to  Constantine. 
No  prayer  is  offered  to  the  Saviour,  who  seems  to  be  of 
little  importance  anywhere  in  Rome;  but  an  inscription 
below  says,  'Blessed  Peter,  give  life  to  Pope  Leo  and 
victory  to  King  Charles'  It  does  not  say,  'Intercede  for 
us,  through  the  Saviour,  with  the  Father,  for  this  boon/ 
but  'Blessed  Peter,  give  it  us.' 

"In  all  seriousness  —  without  meaning  to  be  frivolous, 
without  meaning  to  be  irreverent,  and,  more  than  all, 
without  meaning  to  be  blasphemous  —  I  state,  as  my  sim- 
ple deduction  from  the  things  I  have  seen  and  the  things  I 
have  heard,  that  the  Holy  Personages  rank  thus  in  Rome : 
"First.  'The  Mother  of  God'  —  otherwise  the  Virgin 
Mary. 


RELIGION  IN  ROME.  333 

"Second.  The  Deity. 

"Third.  Peter. 

"Fourth.  Some  twelve  or  fifteen  canonized  popes  and 
martyrs. 

"Fifth.  Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour  (but  always  an  in- 
fant in  arms). 

"I  may  be  wrong  in  this  —  my  judgment  errs  often, 
just  as  is  the  case  with  other  men's  —  but  it  is  my  judg- 
ment, be  it  good  or  bad. 

"Just  here  I  will  mention  something  that  seems  curi- 
ous to  me.  There  are  no  'Christ's  Churches'  in  Rome, 
and  no  'Churches  of  the  Holy  Ghost,'  that  I  can  discover. 
There  are  some  four  hundred  churches,  but  about  a  fourth 
of  them  seem  to  be  named  for  the  Madonna  and  St.  Peter. 
There  are  so  many  named  for  Mary  that  they  have  to 
be  distinguished  by  all  sorts  of  affixes,  if  I  understand 
the  matter  rightly.  Then  we  have  churches  of  St.  Louis, 
St.  Augustine,  St.  Agnes,  St.  Calixtus,  St.  Lorenzo  in 
Lucina,  St.  Lorenzo  in  Damaso,  St.  Cecilia,  St.  Athana- 
sius,  St.  Philip  Neri,  St.  Catherine,  St.  Dominico,  and  a 
multitude  of  lesser  saints  whose  names  are  not  familiar 
in  the  world  —  and  away  down,  clear  out  of  the  list  of 
the  churches,  comes  a  couple  of  hospitals;  one  of  them 
is  named  for  the  Saviour  and  the  other  for  the  Holy 
Ghost !" 

But  we  have  allowed  this  clean,  shrewd, 
The  Fee  of  the      racv  American,  with  his  biting  satire  and 

Visitor  more  «       «  r   „ 

important         his  outspoken  common  sense,  to  lead  us  far 
than  the  away  from  our  subject.    Let  us  come  back 

worshipper,      to  the  Church  of  the  Cappuccini.    For,  be- 
sides its  horrible  cemetery,  it  contains  an- 
other object  of  great  interest,  though  of  a  very  different 
character,  viz.,  Guido's  great  picture  of  the  Archangel 
Michael  trampling  upon  the  devil.    The  devil's  face  is 


334  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

said  to  be  a  portrait  of  Pope  Innocent  X.,  against  whom 
the  painter  had  a  spite.  It  is  not  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
scribing the  picture  that  I  refer  to  it,  for  I  am  not  com- 
petent to  do  that,  but  for  the  purpose  of  quoting  the 
animadversions  of  another  American  writer  upon  the  cus- 
tom of  concealing  this  picture  and  others  of  special 
interest  in  Romish  churches  with  closely  drawn  curtains, 
requiring  the  presence  of  an  attendant  to  unveil  them 
and  the  bestowment  of  a  fee  by  the  visitor.  "The  church- 
men of  Italy  make  no  scruple  of  sacrificing  the  very  pur- 
pose for  which  a  work  of  sacred  art  has  been  created,  that 
of  opening  the  way  for  religious  sentiment  through  the 
quick  medium  of  sight,  by  bringing  angels,  saints  and 
martyrs  down  visibly  upon  earth  —  of  sacrificing  this 
high  purpose,  and,  for  aught  they  know,  the  welfare  of 
many  souls  along  with  it,  to  the  hope  of  a  paltry  fee. 
Every  work  by  an  artist  of  celebrity  is  hidden  behind  a 
veil,  and  seldom  revealed,  except  to  Protestants,  who 
scorn  it  as  an  object  of  devotion,  and  value  it  only  for  its 
artistic  merit." 

The  same  author   (Hawthorne),  speaking 
versus  of  the  terrible  lack  of  variety  in  the  subjects 

spirituality     of  the  great  Italian  masters,  says  a  quarter 

part,  probably,  of  any  large  collection  of 
pictures  consists  of  Virgins  and  infant  Christs.  .  .  . 
Half  of  the  other  pictures  are  Magdalens,  Flights  into 
Egypt,  Crucifixions,  etc.  "The  remainder  of  the  gallery 
comprises  mythological  subjects,  such  as  nude  Venuses, 
Ledas,  Graces,  and,  in  short,  a  general  apotheosis  of 
nudity.  .  .  .  These  impure  pictures  are  from  the  same 
illustrious  and  impious  hands  that  adventured  to  call 
before  us  the  august  forms  of  apostles  and  saints,  the 
Blessed  Mother  of  the  Redeemer,  and  her  Son,  at  his 
death,  and  in  his  glory,  and  even  the  aw  fulness  of  him 


RELIGION  IN  ROME.  335 

to  whom  the  martyrs,  dead  a  thousand  years  ago,  have 
not  dared  to  raise  their  eyes.  They  seem  to  take  up  one 
task  or  the  other  —  the  disrobed  woman  whom  they  call 
Venus,  or  the  type  of  highest  and  tenderest  womanhood 
in  the  mother  of  the  Saviour  —  with  equal  readiness,  but 
to  achieve  the  former  with  far  more  satisfactory  success. 
If  an  artist  sometimes  produced  a  picture  of  the  Virgin 
possessing  warmth  enough  to  excite  devotional  feelings, 
it  was  probably  the  object  of  his  earthly  love,  to  whom  he 
thus  paid  the  stupendous  and  fearful  homage  of  setting 
up  her  portrait  to  be  worshipped,  not  figuratively  as  a 
mortal,  but  by  religious  souls  in  their  earnest  aspirations 
towards  divinity.  And  who  can  trust  the  religious  senti- 
ment of  Raphael,  or  receive  any  of  his  Virgins  as  heaven- 
descended  likenesses,  after  seeing,  for  example,  the  "For- 
narina"  of  the  Barberini  Palace,  and  feeling  how  sensual 
the  artist  must  have  been  to  paint  such  a  brazen  trollop 
of  his  own  accord,  and  lovingly?  Would  the  Blessed 
Mary  reveal  herself  to  his  spiritual  vision,  and  favor  him 
with  sittings  alternately  with  that  type  of  glowing  earth- 
liness,  the  Fornarina?" 

The  Kind  of  True,  Hawthorne  proceeds  at  once  to 
character  weaken  the  force  of  this  criticism  somewhat 
:ed'  by  referring  to  the  throng  of  spiritual  faces, 
innocent  cherubs,  serene  angels,  pure-eyed  madonnas, 
and  "that  divinest  countenance  in  the  Transfiguration"  — 
all  of  which  we  owe  to  Raphael's  marvellous  brush.  But 
the  criticism  above  quoted  is  sound.  And  that  Hawthorne 
himself  saw  how  little  such  "sacred  art"  had  availed  to 
lift  the  representatives  of  this  kind  or  worship  out  of 
gross  sensualism,  let  the  following  passage  witness: 
"Here  was  a  priesthood,  pampered,  sensual,  with  red  and 
bloated  cheeks,  and  carnal  eyes.  With  apparently  a 
grosser  development  of  animal  life  than  most  men,  they 


336  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

were  placed  in  an  unnatural  relation  with  woman,  and 
thereby  lost  the  healthy,  human  conscience  that  pertains 
to  other  human  beings,  who  own  the  sweet  household 
ties  connecting  them  with  wife  and  daughter.  And  here 
was  an  indolent  nobility,  with  no  high  aims  or  oppor- 
tunities, but  cultivating  a  vicious  way  of  life,  as  if  it 
were  an  art,  and  the  only  one  which  they  cared  to  learn. 
Here  was  a  population,  high  and  low,  that  had  no  genuine 
belief  in  virtue;  and  if  they  recognized  any  act  as  crimi- 
nal, they  might  throw  off  all  care,  remorse  and  memory 
of  it,  by  kneeling  a  little  while  at  the  confessional,  and 
rising  unburdened,  active,  elastic  and  incited  by  fresh 
appetite  for  the  next  ensuing  sin." 

Of  course  all  the  priests  are  not  such  as  above  de- 
scribed, as  Eugene  Sue  has  endeavored  to  show  in  the 
character  of  Gabriel  in  The  Wandering  Jew,  and  Victor 
Hugo  in  the  character  of  the  good  bishop  in  Les  Misera- 
bles,  and  Marie  Corelli  in  the  character  of  the  good  Car- 
dinal Bonpre  in  The  Master  Christian.  Hawthorne  sim- 
ply describes  the  prevailing  type.  Let  it  be  observed, 
too,  that  he  is  speaking  of  the  priests  in  Italy,  not  of  those 
in  America,  among  whom  we  are  glad  to  believe  there 
is  a  much  larger  proportion  of  good  men.  Moreover,  it 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  present  Premier  of  Italy 
has  himself  stated  publicly,  in  a  passage  which  I  have 
quoted  in  Chapter  XXIX.,  that  there  has  been  some  im- 
provement, at  least  in  the  outward  conduct  of  the  clergy, 
since  the  overthrow  of  the  papal  government,  and  that  the 
immorality  of  the  priests  and  cardinals  is  not  so  shame- 
lessly flaunted  in  Rome  as  it  used  to  be  under  the  popes. 
On  the  2oth  of  September,  1870,  the  Italian 

The  Other  Type.  ,    _  -  ,.    ,  . 

army  entered  Rome,  after  a  slisfht  resist- 
ance. This  event,  which  marked  the  downfall  of  the 
temporal  power  of  the  papacy,  the  unification  of  Italy, 


RELIGION  IN  ROME.  333 

and  the  establishment  of  religious  liberty  under  the  en- 
lightened and  progressive  government  of  Victor  Em- 
manuel, is  properly  commemorated  in  the  name  of  a  hand- 
some street,  Via  Venti  Settembre,  which  extends  from 
the  Porta  Pia,  where  the  army  entered,  to  the  Quirinal 
Palace,  where  the  King  resides.  Appropriately  placed  on 
a  street  which  thus  commemorates  the  establishment  of 
civil  and  religious  freedom  in  Italy,  are  several  of  the 
Protestant  churches,  which  for  the  last  thirty  years  have 
caused  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life  to  flow  once  more 
through  Rome  as  in  the  days  when  the  great  Apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  preached  there  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
taught  the  things  concerning  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with 
all  boldness,  none  forbidding  him. 

At  No.  7  on  this  high  and  pleasant  street  we  find  a 
tall,  clean,  handsome  building,  standing  well  back  from 
the  street,  with  a  spacious,  green  yard  in  front,  the  whole 
occupying  a  portion  of  what  were  once  the  gardens  of 
the  Barberini  Palace.  A  neat  notice-board  on  the  high 
iron  picket  fence  informs  us  that  this  attractive  building 
is  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  that  the  pastor  is  the 
Rev.  J.  Gordon  Gray,  D.  D. 

When   you   enter   the   church   on    Sunday 

An  Apostolic  . 

Preacher  morning,  a  few  minutes  before  eleven 
in  Rome.  o'clock,  you  find  it  filled  with  a  congregation 
of  exceptionally  intelligent  people,  mostly  English-speak- 
ing residents  in  Rome  and  English-speaking  visitors  from 
every  part  of  the  world,  including  many  Christians  of 
other  denominations  besides  our  own  —  'for  it  does  not 
take  visitors  in  Rome  long  to  find  out  how  strong  and 
wholesome  is  the  spiritual  nourishment  here  furnished, 
how  broad-minded  and  large-hearted  the  minister  is,  and 
how  surely  he  declares  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  without 
ever  a  syllable  that  can  offend  any  of  those  who  love 


338  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity.  If  you  return  in  the 
afternoon,  as  you  will  do  if  you  are  wise,  and  as  every- 
body does,  in  fact,  after  hearing  him  once,  you  will  find 
the  house  full  again,  and,  while  you  will  see  no  splendid 
pageant,  no  rows  of  bishops  and  archbishops  in  purple 
and  lace  and  furs,  no  robing  and  disrobing,  no  intoned 
service  in  Latin,  no  choral  responses  from  high  and  gilded 
choir  loft,  no  clouds  of  incense  filling  the  air  —  you  will 
hear  the  old  sweet  gospel  in  all  its  pristine  purity  —  you 
will  see  the  great  apostle  and  his  friends  before  you,  in- 
stinct with  life  and  love  and  zeal,  as  the  minister  lectures, 
with  astonishing  fullness  and  accuracy  of  information 
and  sympathetic  understanding,  on  Roman  Sites  which 
can  be  identified  with  St.  Paul's  Sojourn  Here,  The  Saints 
of  Caesar's  Household  in  the  light  of  the  Columbaria, 
The  Site  and  probable  incidents  of  Paul's  Roman  Trial, 
The  First  Martyrdoms  and  the  probable  Site  of  Nero's 
Circus,  Paul's  Two  Years  in  his  Hired  House,  Paul's 
Travels  and  Labors  between  his  First  and  Second  Roman 
Imprisonments,  The  Closing  Years  of  Paul's  Ministry, 
The  Jews  in  Rome  in  Paul's  Time  —  and  you  will  hear 
things  that  make  for  the  peace  of  your  soul  and  for  your 
upbuilding  on  your  most  holy  faith  as  he  expounds  The 
Chief  Elements  of  Paul's  Teaching;  Christ  in  Early 
Christian  Art  as  found  in  the  Roman  Catacombs;  The 
State  after  Death,  Prayers  to  the  Dead,  and  Prayers  for 
the  Dead,  in  the  light  of  the  testimony  of  the  Roman 
Catacombs ;  The  Place  and  Efficacy  of  the  Sacraments  in 
the  light  of  the  testimony  of  the  Roman  Catacombs ;  and 
The  Ministry  in  the  Early  Church  of  the  Catacombs. 
A  wise  and  Surely  never  was  Christian  workman  better 
Lovine  Pastor,  adapted  to  his  work  than  Dr.  Gray.  The 
sturdy  frame,  the  massive  head,  the  clear  eye,  the  kindly 
voice,  the  genial  manner,  the  transparent  sincerity,  and 


RELIGION  IN  ROME.  339 

the  ready  sympathy  of  the  man,  invite  one's  confidence 
from  the  first,  and  the  longer  you  know  him  the  more  you 
value  him  for  his  rare  combination  of  strength  and  ten- 
derness, and  for  his  wisdom,  piety  and  learning.  We  had 
the  good  fortune  to  hear  his  sermon  on  the  eighteenth 
anniversary  of  the  formation  of  his  pastorate  in  Rome, 
in  which  he  reviewed  the  history  of  his  church  during 
those  eighteen  years,  and  the  years  immediately  preceding, 
and  the  growth  of  Protestantism  in  Rome  since  the  down- 
fall of  the  papacy  —  and  a  deeply  interesting  discourse 
it  was.  It  lifted  one's  hopes  for  the  future  of  Italy. 
Undoubtedly  the  day  is  breaking  over  the  darkness  which 
has  so  long  lain  like  a  pall  over  this  lovely  land. 

A  good  man  is  known  by  his  prayers.  There  is  a 
fullness,  propriety  and  fervor  about  Dr.  Gray's  public 
prayers  that  are  seldom  equalled.  The  homesick  stranger, 
with  the  wide  ocean  between  him  and  his  native  land  — 
the  professional  man  wavering  in  health  and  doubtful 
as  to  the  future  —  the  stricken  widow,  who  has  lost  her 
husband  by  the  sudden  stroke  of  death  —  as  well  as  those 
who  bear  the  usual  burdens  of  the  human  heart,  find 
themselves  strangely  comforted  and  cheered,  strangely 
relieved  of  their  toils  and  cares  and  anxieties  and  fears, 
strangely  upborne  and  strengthened,  as  this  man  of  God 
pours  from  a  sympathetic  heart  the  needs  of  his  people 
into  the  ear  of  him  who  careth  for  us.  Among  the  usual 
petitions  on  Sunday  morning  there  is  invariably  one  for 
the  King  of  England  and  the  royal  family,  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  King  and  Queen  of  Italy. 
We  had  two  reminders  on  the  22nd  of  February  that  it 
was  Washington's  birthday:  one  was  the  flags  hanging 
out  at  the  American  Embassy,  and  the  other  was  Dr. 
Gray's  prayer  of  thanksgiving  for  the  character  and  ser- 
vices of  Washington.  He  never  forgets  anything. 


340  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

Yet  his  activities  are  multifarious.  His  resourceful- 
ness, adequacy  and  strength  have  long  since  made  him 
the  real  dean  of  the  fine  force  of  Protestant  ministers  in 
Rome.  His  advice  is  sought  by  them,  and  by  all  manner 
of  visitors  to  Rome,  on  all  manner  of  subjects.  He  is 
deeply  interested  in  the  matter  of  excavating  the  house 
of  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  the  Apostle  Paul's  friends,  on  the 
Aventine,  and  hopes  to  raise  the  necessary  funds  and  have 
that  done  —  a  valuable  service  to  archaeological  and  bibli- 
cal learning.  He  ought  by  all  means  to  be  allowed  to 
find  time  to  publish  a  volume  on  The  Apostle  Paul  in 
Rome.  Dr.  Gray  is  another  of  the  many  good  gifts  of 
Scotland  to  the  world,  and,  like  Dr.  Alexander  Whyte, 
of  Edinburgh,  and  other  eminent  Scotchmen,  is  an  Aber- 
deen man.  They  are  some  of  the  Aberdonians  who  almost 
tempt  us  at  times  to  agree  with  the  Aberdeen  man  of 
whom  our  good  Scotch  physician  in  Rome  told  me  the 
other  day,  who  said,  "Tak'  awa'  Aberdeen  and  sax  miles 
around  it,  and  what  would  you  have  left?" 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
THE  INEXHAUSTIBLENESS  OF  ROME. 

ROME  is  easily  the  most  interesting  city  in  the  world. 
The  subject  is  simply  inexhaustible.  Ampere  said 
that  by  diligence  one  could  obtain  a  superficial  knowledge 
of  it  in  ten  years.  Just  what  terms  should  be  used  to 
characterize  the  seventy  pages  or  so  that  I  have  written, 
from  the  basis  of  the  desultory  reading  and  observation 
of  only  a  few  months,  I  must  leave  to  the  decision  of  the 
reader.  "Presumptuous  sciolism,"  perhaps.  And,  yet, 
though  I  have  filled  these  seventy  pages  with  what  I 
regarded  as  pertinent  descriptions,  salient  facts  and  sug- 
gestive quotations  from  the  best  authorities,  all  subjected 
to  as  much  compression  as  was  consistent  with  a  fair 
statement  of  the  particular  points  which  I  wished  to  make, 
I  have  restricted  myself  almost  exclusively  to  one  phase 
of  the  subject,  viz.,  Ecclesiastical  Rome,  and  have  had 
almost  nothing  to  say  of  Classical  Rome  and  Artistic 
Rome. 

Even  when  confining  myself  to  this  one  line,  I  have 
found  no  opportunity  to  give  you  any  description  of  the 
Appian  Way,  over  the  paving-stones  of  which  the  Apostle 
Paul  entered  Rome  in  56  A.  D.  (Acts  xxviii.  14-16)  ; 
or  of  the  Pyramid  of  Cestius,  still  standing  beside  the 
road,  just  outside  the  gate  which  now  bears  the  apostle's 
name  —  a  sepulchral  monument  upon  which  his  eyes  must 
have  rested  for  a  moment  as  he  passed  out  to  his  own 
execution  —  "Among  the  works  of  man,  that  pyramid  is 
the  only  surviving  witness  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Paul" ; 
or  of  the  Catacombs,  those  vast  labyrinths  of  subterranean 


342  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

galleries,  the  aggregate  length  of  which  is  estimated  at 
nearly  six  hundred  miles,  so  that  if  placed  end  to  end 
they  would  extend  the  whole  length  of  Italy  —  where  the 
bodies  of  thousands  of  the  early  Christians  were  laid  in 
full  hope  of  the  resurrection ;  or  of  the  bronze  statue  of 
St.  Peter  in  the  great  cathedral,  the  extended  foot  of 
which  has  been  largely  worn  away  by  the  kisses  of  Roman 
Catholic  devotees  —  the  figure  which,  on  the  occasion  of 
Pope  Leo's  Jubilee,  our  party  saw  dressed  up  in  a  mitre 
and  pontifical  robes;  or  of  Houdon's  marvellous  statue 
of  St.  Bruno  in  the  Church  of  St.  Maria  degli  Angeli, 
of  which  Clement  XIV.,  the  Pope  who  is  supposed  to 
have  died  of  poison  administered  by  the  Jesuits,  in  1774, 
used  to  say,  "He  would  speak,  if  the  rule  of  his  order 
did  not  forbid  it" ;  or  of  the  statue  of  that  other  Bruno 
who  now  stands  in  the  Campo  de'  Fiori,  on  the  spot 
where  he  was  burnt  as  a  heretic  in  1600  for  his  advocacy 
of  the  Copernican  system. 

I  have  been  able  to  say  nothing  of  the  remains  of 
Classical  Rome,  such  as  the  palaces  of  the  Caesars,  the 
Arch  of  Titus  —  with  its  bas-reliefs  of  the  golden  candle- 
stick and  other  treasures  from  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem, 
which  were  borne  among  the  spoils  of  that  Emperor's 
triumph  —  the  monuments  of  the  Forum,  the  Column  of 
Trajan,  the  tomb  of  Hadrian,  the  much  lauded  equestrian 
statue  of  Marcus  Aurelius  on  the  Capitoline  Hill,  the 
immensely  impressive  Pantheon,  and  the  majestic  statue 
of  Pompey,  at  the  foot  of  which  Julius  Csesar  was  assassi- 
nated. 

I  have  not  been  able  even  to  mention  such  master- 
pieces of  sculpture  as  the  Dancing  Faun,  the  Dying  Gaul 
—  "butchered  to  make  a  Roman  holiday"  —  the  Laocoon, 
the  Apollo  Belvedere,  the  Young  Augustus,  and  scores 
of  others,  or  such  paintings  as  Guide's  "Aurora,"  Michel- 


THE  INEXHAUSTIBLENESS  OF  ROME.    343 

angelo's  "Last  Judgment,"  and  the  scarcely  less  wonder- 
ful creations  of  Botticelli,  Titian  and  Domenichino. 

I  have  had  to  pass  unnoticed  such  tempting  details  as 
the  Tarpeian  Rock,  the  site  of  the  bridge  which  Horatius 
kept  in  the  brave  days  of  old,  the  walls  of  the  Paeda- 
gogium  under  the  Palatine  cliff,  where  a  school  boy  had 
drawn,  for  the  encouragement  of  his  successors,  a  sketch 
of  an  ass  turning  a  corn-mill,  with  the  superscription  in 
Latin,  "Work,  little  donkey,  as  I  have  worked,  and  it 
will  profit  thee" ;  the  famous  Keyhole  View  of  St.  Peter's 
from  the  Aventine,  and  many  others,  for  which  I  must 
refer  you  to  other  books. 

The  Best  Books  Besides  the  books  on  Rome,  such  as  Hare's 
about  Rome.  Walks,  and  Hawthorne's  Marble  Faun,  to 
which  I  have  tried  to  introduce  my  readers  by  appetizing 
quotations  from  time  to  time  in  former  letters,  I  must 
mention  also  Dennie's  Pagan  Rome,  Story's  Roba  di 
Roma,  Mrs.  Ward's  Eleanor  (which  contains  the  best 
descriptions  of  the  wonderful  scenery  around  Lake 
Nemi),  and  the  standard  works  of  Professor  Lanciani. 
These  are  much  better  for  home  reading,  and  even  for 
reading  on  the  spot,  than  the  guide  books.  In  a  sumptu- 
ously bound  and  profusely  illustrated  copy  of  Lanciani's 
New  Tales  of  Old  Rome,  which  was  presented  to  me 
by  a  friend  last  Christmas,  I  find  a  criticism  of  the  well- 
known  passage  in  which  Lord  Mahon  refers  to  the  fact 
that  the  last  of  the  Stuarts,  the  Old  Pretender,  his  wife, 
and  his  two  sons,  are  buried  in  St.  Peter's,  and  where, 
Lord  Mahon  says,  "a  stately  monument  from  the  chisel 
of  Canova  has  since  risen  to  the  memory  of  James  III., 
Charles  III.,  and  Henry  IX.,  kings  of  England,  names 
which  an  Englishman  can  scarcely  read  without  a  smile 
or  a  sigh."  Lanciani  says,  "Lord  Mahon  could  have 
saved  both  his  smiles  and  his  sighs  if  he  had  simply 


344  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

read  with  care  the  epitaph  engraved  on  the  monument, 
which  says:  'To  James  III.,  son  of  James  II.,  King  of 
Great  Britain,  to  Charles  Edward,  and  Henry,  Dean  of 
the  Sacred  College,  Sons  of  James  III.,  the  last  of  the 
Royal  House  of  Stuart.' "  This  is  the  only  statement, 
so  far  as  I  have  observed,  in  Professor  Lanciani's  writ- 
ings which  is  not  scrupulously  fair.  That  the  criticism 
is  not  perfectly  fair  is  clear  from  the  very  inscription 
which  he  cites,  where  the  Old  Pretender  is  twice  called 
James  III. ;  from  the  inscription  on  the  tomb  of  his  wife, 
close  at  hand,  where  she  is  called  "Queen  of  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Ireland" ;  from  the  fact  that  the  canopy  under 
which  the  body  of  the  Old  Pretender  lay  in  state  at  Rome 
for  five  days,  crowned,  sceptred,  and  in  royal  robes,  was 
inscribed,  "Jacobus,  Magnas  Britanniae  Rex,  Anno 
MDCCLXVL";  and  from  the  fact,  stated  by  Lanciani 
himself  in  the  same  volume,  that  when  Charles  Edward, 
the  Young  Pretender,  died,  Cardinal  York,  his  brother, 
proclaimed  himself  the  legitimate  sovereign  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  under  the  name  of  Henry  IX.  Lord 
Mahon  was  substantially  correct. 

St.  Peter's  is  a  peculiarly  appropriate  place  of  sepul- 
ture for  the  line  of  tyrannical  kings  who  tried  so  hard 
to  fasten  the  yoke  of  Romanism  upon  Great  Britain. 
They  went  to  their  own  place.  England  and  Scotland 
will  do  well  to  remember  that  the  same  forces  which  the 
Stuarts  represented,  and  which  endangered  their  liberties 
then,  still  constitute  the  gravest  menace  to  the  true  free- 
dom of  their  island  empire. 

One  other  book  I  must  mention  before  finishing  what 
I  have  to  say  about  the  literature  of  this  vast  subject: 
the  volume  entitled  Ave  Roma  Immortalis,  by  Francis 
Marion  Crawford,  son  of  the  sculptor  to  whom  we  are 
indebted  for  the  superb  equestrian  statue  of  Washington 


THE  INEXHAUSTIBLENESS  OF  ROME.    345 

at  Richmond,  with  its  circle  of  illustrious  Virginians  in 
bronze.  Let  no  one  be  deterred  by  the  Latin  title.  The 
book  itself  is  written  in  the  most  delightful  English.  It 
is  not  to  be  commended  without  qualification,  for  this 
prolific  author  who  bears  the  name  of  the  immortal 
Huguenot  partisan  of  South  Carolina,  and  ought  by 
every  consideration,  so  far  as  we  know,  to  be  a  sturdy 
Protestant,  has  suffered  somewhat  in  his  religious  faith 
by  his  Italian  birth  and  rearing.  But  his  book  is  full 
of  good  things  culled  from  wide  and  discriminating  read- 
ing, the  feature  that  is  really  of  most  value  in  a  book 
of  travel. 

But  I  must  not  forget  that,  while  there  is  no  limit  to 
such  a  subject  as  Rome,  there  is  a  limit  to  the  patience 
of  my  readers.  So  we  will  now  take  leave  of  Rome 
abruptly,  and  pass  at  once  to  Naples  and  its  environs, 
where  we  spent  the  concluding  days  of  our  sojourn  in 
Italy. 


23 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 
NAPLES,  CAPRI,  VESUVIUS,  AMALFI  AND  POMPEII. 


is  the  largest,  dirtiest  and  most  beautiful 
city  in  Italy.  From  the  balconies  of  our  hotel, 
which  stands  high  on  the  thickly-built  hillside,  we  have 
a  matchless  view  —  the  cream-colored  city  at  our  feet, 
with  its  red  roofs  and  blue  domes,  rising  from  the  water's 
edge  and  climbing  the  embayed  mountain  like  half  of 
a  vast  amphitheatre;  the  volcano  of  Vesuvius  beyond, 
lifting  its  white  plume  of  warning  smoke  by  day,  and 
sometimes  glaring  red  at  night  ;  the  brown  ruins  of  over- 
whelmed but  disentombed  Pompeii  a  little  to  the  right  ; 
then  the  cliffs  of  Sorrento;  and,  stretching  between  us 
and  them,  the  bay  itself,  with  its  incomparable  crescent 
of  contiguous  cities  running  like  a  fringe  of  snow  round 
its  blue  waters.  There  — 

"The  bridegroom  Sea  is  toying  with  the  shore, 
His  wedded  bride  ;  and  in  the  fullness  of  his  marriage  joy 
He  decorates  her  tawny  brow  with  shells, 
Retires  a  space  to  see  how  fair  she  looks, 
Then  proud  runs  up  to  kiss  her." 

The  contrast  between  the  heavenly  scenery  of  this  bay 
and  that  awful  volcano,  which  stands  over  it  like  an  ever- 
present  threat  of  destruction,  reminds  one  of  the  cherubim 
which  stood  at  the  gate  of  Eden  to  guarantee  the  restora- 
tion of  redeemed  and  glorified  humanity  to  communion 
with  God,  along  with  the  self-revolving  sword  which  sym- 
bolized the  certainty  and  terribleness  of  divine  vengeance 
upon  sin.  But  neither  by  the  promises  of  his  grace  nor 
by  the  threat  of  his  vengeance  do  these  people  seem  to 


NAPLES  —  VESUVIUS  —  POMPEII.       347 

be  restrained  from  sin.  Many  of  them  are  sunk  in  vice. 
street  Scenes  The  contrast  between  splendor  and  squalor, 
in  Naples.  superfluous  wealth  and  abject  poverty, 
which  characterizes  all  large  cities,  is  sharper,  if  possible, 
here  than  anywhere  else.  But  it  is  the  latter,  the  pic- 
turesque misery  of  Naples,  that  makes  most  impression 
upon  the  visitor.  Some  of  the  narrow  streets,  often  not 
more  than  ten  or  twenty  feet  wide,  are  indescribably 
filthy,  and  they  swarm  with  bare-headed,  untidy  women 
and  half-naked  children,  yelling  hucksters  and  pertina- 
cious beggars,  dirty  monks  and  gowned  priests.  All 
this,  and  more  which  cannot  here  be  set  down,  in  one  of 
the  loveliest  places  on  this  beautiful  earth. 

An  observant  and  witty  friend  of  mine  says:  "The 
people  live  outdoors,  and  for  the  best  of  reasons  —  they 
would  die  indoors.  .  .  .  Into  most  of  the  living  rooms 
on  their  narrowest  streets  the  sun  never  shines.  .  .  . 
At  the  best,  the  ordinary  buildings  feel  sepulchral,  and 
an  overcoat  is  to  be  worn  here  in  the  house,  and  not  on 
the  streets !  Lining  the  sides  of  many,  if  not  most  of  the 
streets,  are  shops  or  booths.  They  are,  as  far  as  one 
can  see,  single  rooms,  furnished  about  the  door  with 
vegetables,  or  meats,  or  maccaroni,  or  wine  bottles,  or 
charcoal,  or  bread,  the  rest  of  the  room  filled  with  beds 
and  tables  and  dressers,  with  dishes  and  food,  and  shrines 
and  hiehlv-colored  chromos  of  the  saints  and  apostles. 
The  children  are  washed  and  dressed  in  the  doorways, 
and  their  heads  constantly  watched  and  investigated, 
much  after  the  friendlv  fashion  of  monkeys.  By  the  way, 
peddlers  are  forever  thrusting  small  boxes  of  combs  into 
our  faces,  insisting1  upon  our  buving.  We  have  not  pur- 
chased any  yet  —  but  who  can  tell  ?  The  people  do  much 
of  their  cooking  in  small  braziers  outside  the  doors,  on 
the  sidewalk,  burning  charcoal  and  fanning  the  fires  with 


348  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

hats  or  aprons.  They  have  no  hesitancy  about  eating 
out  of  the  same  dish  and  in  the  public  eye.  Cows  and 
goats  are  driven  along  the  street  and  milked  at  the  doors 
into  glasses  or  bottles,  which  seems  a  fair  guarantee  for 
the  milk  being  fresh.  The  calves  and  kids  come  to  town, 
too,  and  take  in  the  ways  of  the  city,  along  with  what 
they  get  of  their  mothers'  milk.  Women  wash  clothes 
at  the  public  fountains,  some  bringing  wash-boards  or 
flat  stones,  some  treading  the  clothes  in  tubs  with  their 
feet.  From  windows  and  balconies,  on  lines  stretched 
along  the  streets  and  on  cane  poles  that  almost  touch  the 
opposite  houses,  the  wet  things  drip  and  dry.  Squads 
of  soldiers  in  various  uniforms  pass  and  repass  at  all  times 
of  day ;  old  women  knit  and  rest  in  the  doorways ;  vege- 
table and  fish  venders  proclaim  their  wares  in  high,  hard 
voices.  At  their  cries  baskets  are  let  down  from  upper 
windows,  and  the  sharpest  bargains  in  the  shrillest  accents 
are  driven  in  midair.  If  the  goods  are  not  satisfactory, 
down  go  the  baskets  to  the  sidewalk." 

Of  course  we  visited  the  aquarium,  said  to  be  the 
finest  in  the  world,  and  the  museum,  with  its  two  thou- 
sand mural  paintings  brought  from  Pompeii,  and  its 
collection  of  ancient  bronzes  —  also  the  finest  in  the 
world. 

But  the  things  that  interested  us  most  were  not  in 
Naples,  but  around  it  —  such  as  Puteoli,  where,  many 
centuries  ago,  on  a  balmy  spring  day  like  this,  when  the 
south  wind  was  blowing  softly  over  the  sea,  the  Apostle 
Paul  landed,  with  Luke  and  Aristarchus,  on  his  way  to 
Rome;  and  where  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter 
Serapis,  bearing  sea-marks  at  various  levels  and  having 
its  columns  perforated  by  lithodomites  and  containing 
imbedded  shells,  shows  how  the  building,  by  gradual 
subsidence  of  the  land,  was  first  let  down  into  the  water, 


NAPLES  —  VESUVIUS  —  POMPEII.        349 

and  then  by  volcanic  upheaval  lifted  again  to  the  higher 
level. 

The  Blue  Grotto  Directly  in  front  of  us  as  we  look  from  our 
at  Capri.  windows,  but  far  out  over  the  expanse  of 
sunlit  water,  twenty-two  miles  away,  we  can  see  Capri, 
lying  like  a  turquoise  gem  on  the  bosom  of  the  bay.  Our 
party  returned  from  their  visit  to  this  enchanting  island 
with  quite  new  conceptions  of  the  color  effects  that  may 
be  produced  by  the  combination  of  sunlight  and  sea 
water.  When  the  steamer  stops  at  Capri,  a  short  distance 
beyond  the  town  of  Capri,  the  passengers  get  into  small 
boats  and  are  rowed  up  to  a  lofty  cliff,  in  the  base  of 
which,  at  the  water  level,  there  is  a  small  hole,  four  feet 
high  and  four  feet  wide,  so  small,  indeed,  that  it  cannot 
be  entered  at  all  when  the  tide  is  up  or  the  water  is  rough. 
Even  under  favorable  conditions,  passengers  have  to  sit 
on  the  bottom  of  the  boat  and  duck  their  heads.  This 
is  the  entrance  to  the  wonderful  Blue  Grotto.  "Once 
within,  you  find  yourself  in  an  arched  cavern  about  one 
hundred  and  sixty  feet  long,  one  hundred  and  twenty 
wide,  and  about  seventy  high.  How  deep  it  is  no  man 
knows.  It  goes  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean.  The 
waters  of  this  placid  subterranean  lake  are  the  brightest, 
loveliest  blue  that  can  be  imagined.  They  are  as  trans- 
parent as  plate  glass,  and  their  coloring  would  shame  the 
richest  sky  that  ever  bent  over  Italy.  No  tint  could  be 
more  ravishing,  no  lustre  more  superb.  Throw  a  stone 
into  the  water,  and  the  myriad  of  tiny  bubbles  that  are 
created  flash  out  a  brilliant  glare  like  blue  theatrical  fires. 
Dip  an  oar,  and  its  blade  turns  to  frosted  silver,  tinted 
with  blue.  Let  a  man  jump  in,  and  instantly  he  is  cased 
in  an  armor  more  gorgeous  than  ever  kingly  crusader 
wore."  Two  boys,  in  the  scantiest  possible  attire,  who 
were  standing  on  a  ledge  when  we  entered,  clothed  them- 


350  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

selves  repeatedly  in  this  celestial  armor  for  our  delectation 
and  their  profit,  by  diving  for  the  pennies  flung  into  the 
water  by  the  passengers. 

The  Ascent  of  When  you  visit  Vesuvius,  make  an  early 
Vesuvius.  start  and  give  yourself  plenty  of  time.  It 
took  our  party  four  hours  and  a  half,  with  a  good  team, 
to  drive  from  Naples  to  the  foot  of  the  steep  cone  at 
the  top.  The  journey  takes  you  through  some  of  the 
disagreeable  parts  of  the  city  and  gives  you  a  new  im- 
pression of  its  extent.  When  at  last  you  do  turn  from 
the  squalid  streets  and  begin  the  ascent  of  the  mountain, 
your  enjoyment  begins.  The  fresh  breeze,  laden  with 
the  fragrance  of  orange  blossoms,  tempers  the  heat,  and 
at  every  turn  of  the  winding,  climbing  road  you  have  the 
most  entrancing  views  of  the  city  and  the  bay.  The 
mountain  itself  is  partly  covered  with  the  luxuriant 
greenery  of  orchards  and  villas,  and  partly  by  the  gloomy 
beds  of  lava  thrown  out  by  successive  eruptions— -"a 
black  ocean,  which  was  tumbled  into  a  thousand  fantastic 
shapes  —  a  wild  chaos  of  ruin,  desolation  and  barren- 
ness —  a  wilderness  of  billowy  upheavals,  of  furious 
whirlpools,  of  miniature  mountains  rent  asunder  —  of 
gnarled  and  knotted,  wrinkled  and  twisted  masses  of 
blackness  that  mimicked  branching  roots,  great  vines, 
trunks  of  trees  all  interlaced  and  mingled  together;  and 
all  these  weird  shapes,  all  this  turbulent  panorama,  all 
this  stormy,  far  stretching  waste  of  blackness,  with  its 
thrilling  suggestiveness  of  life,  of  action,  of  boiling,  surg- 
ing, furious  motion,  was  petrified !  —  all  stricken  dead 
and  cold  in  the  instant  of  its  maddest  rioting !  —  fettered, 
paralyzed  and  left  to  glower  at  heaven  in  impotent  rage 
for  evermore!" 

I  had  had  the  good  fortune  on  a  former  visit  to  see 
the  process  of  its  formation.    At  that  time  the  lava  was 


NAPLES  —  VESUVIUS  —  POMPEII.       35I 

actually  flowing  from  a  breach  in  the  side  of  the  moun- 
tain, a  little  below  the  cone  which  surrounds  the  great 
crater,  and  a  party  of  us  walked  over  a  half  mile  or  so 
among  the  wild  rocks  and  congealed  lava  to  get  a  sight 
of  it.  The  rocks  over  which  we  walked  were  too  hot  to 
touch  with  the  naked  hand,  and  scorched  the  bottoms 
of  our  shoes.  The  fumes  of  sulphur  escaping  through 
the  crevices  made  the  air  almost  suffocating.  These  con- 
ditions became  more  aggravated  the  nearer  we  came  to 
the  object  of  our  search,  so  that  one  or  two  of  the  party 
became  quite  unnerved,  gave  up  the  expedition,  and  re- 
turned. We  felt  like  we  were  walking  in  a  furnace.  Then 
the  guide  made  a  turn  round  some  great  boulders,  and 
there  it  was  —  a  slowly  moving  stream  of  liquid  fire, 
issuing  from  under  a  great  rock,  and  flowing  down  the 
side  of  the  mountain.  Every  one  threw  his  hands  before 
his  face  to  protect  it  from  the  blistering  heat.  The  guide, 
standing  behind  a  big  rock,  reached  over  with  a  long  pole 
into  this  fearful  red  river  and  lifted  out  a  glob  of  the 
molten  lava  on  the  end  of  it,  as  you  would  dip  up  a  bit 
of  hot  molasses  candy  on  the  end  of  a  fork,  then,  with- 
drawing a  little  way,  he  disengaged  the  lava  from  the 
end  of  the  pole  with  a  smaller  stick,  and,  asking  me  for  a 
penny,  he  laid  the  coin  on  the  lump  of  lava  and  pressed 
it  well  down  into  the  mass  which  rose  round  the  edges 
of  the  coin,  holding  it  firmly  in  its  place  —  and  thus 
made  for  me  a  paper  weight,  which  is  my  best  souvenir 
of  Vesuvius. 

The  ascent  of  the  cone  to  the  crater  is  next  thing  to 
trying  to  climb  a  church  steeple.  Thanks  to  the  enter- 
prise of  Thomas  Cook  &  Sons,  there  is  an  inclined  railway 
which  takes  you  from  the  foot  of  the  cone  up  the  steep 
breast  of  the  mountain  nearly  to  the  top  —  a  dizzy  ride, 
one  that  makes  you  shut  your  eyes  and  grip  the  arms  of 


352  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

your  seat.  Then  comes  the  worst  of  it — the  final  climb 
through  warm  cinders  ankle  deep,  which  furnish  very 
bad  footing  and  come  over  your  shoe  tops  at  every  step. 
There  are  rude  sedan  chairs  on  poles,  and  chair-bearers 
who  will  gladly  carry  you  up  for  an  additional  fee  —  and 
there  are  often  ludicrous  scenes  when  timid  ladies  essay 
this  mode  of  ascent.  The  distance  is  very  short,  so  the 
ladies  of  our  party  determined  to  climb  it  themselves, 
but,  when  about  half  way  up,  they  were  glad  enough 
to  take  hold  of  the  looped  ends  of  ropes  while  men  at  the 
other  end  pulled,  and  so  at  last  they  stood  on  the  very 
top  of  the  great  volcano.  Not  for  long,  however,  for, 
after  they  had  walked  round  the  edge  of  the  great  crater 
and  gotten  a  view  of  the  new  crater,  formed  within,  and 
looking  like  the  heaped  hole  of  a  gigantic  "doodle  bug," 
with  its  slopes  made  of  cinders  instead  of  sand,  and 
sprinkled  with  orange-colored  sulphur,  the  wind  veered 
suddenly  and  swept  the  stifling  sulphur  fumes  right  into 
their  faces.  They  ran,  coughing,  back  over  the  cinders 
and  down  again  to  the  upper  station  of  the  railway,  fully 
convinced  that  Vesuvius,  though  not  perhaps  so  impres- 
sive, was  decidedly  more  pleasant  at  a  distance  than  at 
such  close  range. 

The  Loveliness  Perhaps  the  most  beautiful  drive  in  the 
ofAmam.  world  is  the  drive  from  Castellamare  to 
Amalfi.  Castellamare  is  about  an  hour  and  a  half  by  rail 
from  Naples,  and  not  far  from  Pompeii.  It  was  here, 
indeed,  that  the  elder  Pliny  lost  his  life  in  the  eruption 
of  79  A.  D.,  which  destroyed  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum. 
Taking  a  wagonette  there  about  the  middle  of  the  day, 
we  followed  this  magnificent  road  nearly  all  the  after- 
noon, as  it  wound  in  and  out  along  the  mountainside, 
with  the  towering  cliffs  on  one  hand  and  the  intensely 
blue  bay  on  the  other,  seen  ever  and  anon  through  open- 


NAPLES  —  VESUVIUS  —  POMPEII.        353 

ings  between  the  silvery  olive  trees  which  clothed  all  the 
slopes,  the  view  backwards  being  terminated  by  the  ma- 
jestic uplift  of  Vesuvius,  wearing  a  soft  plum-colored 
tinge  that  we  had  never  seen  it  have  before.  The  soil 
here  is  wonderfully  fertile,  and  every  hillside  is  terraced 
and  cultivated  with  the  utmost  care.  The  orange  and 
lemon  groves,  with  the  trees  trained  over  trellises  and 
protected  from  too  intense  heat  by  straw,  laid  on  frames 
above,  were  still  blooming,  though  the  trees  were  heavily 
laden  with  green  and  golden  fruit.  Every  now  and  then 
little  boys  and  girls  from  the  villages  which  are  perched 
on  the  rocks  or  cling  to  the  hillsides  would  run  after  us, 
throwing  nosegays  into  the  carriage  and  expecting  "soldi" 
in  return.  After  a  while  the  scenery  became  more  rugged, 
not  unlike  Switzerland,  with  little  waterfalls  trickling 
down  the  cliffs,  and  Scotch  broom  and  other  wild  plants 
taking  the  place  of  the  vineyards  and  orchards  on  the 
towering  rocks.  And  now  we  begin  to  drive  through 
tunnels  cut  through  the  cliffs  and  to  pass  over  solid  stone 
bridges,  spanning  glorious  ravines  at  a  dizzy  height,  with 
the  transparent  sea  making  in  far  below  us,  and  the 
mountains  of  gray  rock  towering  skyward  above  us.  And 
at  last,  in  the  soft  evening  light,  we  reached  the  culmina- 
tion of  all  this  wonderful  beauty  at  Amalfi.  When  we 
stopped  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff  on  which  the  Cappuccini 
Hotel  stands,  overlooking  the  town  and  the  sea,  we  found 
the  uniformed  portiere  and  other  attendants  in  a  little 
lodge  or  office  at  the  bottom  of  a  long,  zigzag  flight  of 
stone  steps,  which  leads  up  to  the  high  perched  hotel. 
But  there  were  sedan  chairs  and  chair-bearers  to  spare 
the  ladies  and  the  youngest  of  the  children  the  long,  lung- 
taxing  climb,  and  we  were  soon  comfortably  installed  in 
the  most  romantically  situated  hotel  I  have  ever  seen. 
It  was  a  Cappucin  monastery  once,  and  the  cloisters  are 


354  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

still  there,  but  the  cells  are  now  used  as  bed-rooms.  From 
the  windows  and  balconies,  and  from  the  long  and  lovely 
arcade,  covered  with  grape  vines  and  lined  with  the  most 
beautiful  marguerites,  lilies,  roses  and  geraniums,  the 
guests  look  down  upon  the  picturesque  little  city,  the 
boats  drawn  up  on  the  beach,  the  burnished  Mediter- 
ranean, and  the  opaline  islands  in  the  offing.  And  how 
we  Protestants  did  sleep  in  the  comfortably  furnished 
cells  of  those  ousted  monks !  Amalfi  is  the  place  I  wish 
to  come  to  if  I  am  ever  again  in  Italy. 
The  Ruins  When  we  tore  ourselves  away  from  Amalfi, 

of  Pompeii.  we  drove  on  around  by  Salerno,  another 
feast  of  beauty,  and  took  the  train  at  La  Cava  for  Pom- 
peii. For  days  we  had  been  reading,  or  re-reading,  Bul- 
wer's  Last  Days  of  Pompeii  with  breathless  interest,  or 
plodding  through  the  dryer,  but  hardly  more  accurate, 
details  of  the  guide  book  —  we  had  been  to  the  museum 
at  Naples,  where  the  mural  paintings  and  other  disen- 
tombed relics  of  the  city  are  shown,  and  we  had  stood 
on  the  crater  of  the  volcano  that  wrought  its  destruction 
—  so  that  we  came  to  the  exhumed  ruins  with  as  thorough 
preparation  as  we  had  found  it  possible  to  make.  But 
what  description  can  prepare  one  for  the  impression  of 
that  appalling  catastrophe  which  one  receives  when  he 
stands  in  the  midst  of  the  ruins  themselves,  and  sees  how 
sudden  and  terrible  the  overthrow  was? 

Pompeii  had  been  shattered  by  an  earthquake  sixteen 
years  before  the  final  catastrophe,  but  the  warning  had 
been  disregarded.  The  place  was  rebuilt  with  lavish 
outlay,  and  embellished  with  all  the  resources  of  contem- 
porary art,  so  that  it  was  a  new  and  splendid  city  which 
was  buried  by  the  eruption  of  79  A.  D.  On  the  23rd  of 
August  in  that  year,  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
terrible  detonations  were  heard  in  the  mountain,  and 


NAPLES  —  VESUVIUS  -  POMPEII.       355 

shortly  afterwards  an  enormous  column  of  watery  vapor 
issued  from  the  top  of  it,  remained  suspended  for  a  time 
in  the  air,  then  condensed  and  fell  in  boiling  rain  on 
the  mountain  sides,  creating  an  irresistible  torrent  of 
mud,  which  quickly  engulfed  the  city  of  Herculaneum. 
Following  this,  later  in  the  evening,  apparently  about 
dark,  came  a  roaring  eruption  of  red  hot  pumice  stones 
and  volcanic  dust,  succeeded  quickly  by  other  showers 
of  the  same  material,  which  covered  Pompeii  to  the  depth 
of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet.  Thus  was  the  brilliant  city,  in 
all  the  exuberance  of  its  gay  life,  plunged  into  death  in 
a  single  night.  And  all  the  inhabitants  of  that  part  of 
Italy  believed  that  they  were  about  to  share  the  same 
dreadful  fate.  The  air  was  so  thick  that  for  many  miles 
from  the  volcano  it  was  almost  stifling.  It  is  said  to 
have  extended  as  far  as  Africa.  It  certainly  reached  as 
far  as  Rome,  and  covered  that  city  with  a  pall  of  darkness 
so  deep  that  the  people  took  it  for  a  sign  of  impending 
doom.  They  said  to  each  other,  "The  end  of  the  world 
is  come!  the  sun  is  going  to  fall  to  the  earth,  or  the 
earth  mount  up  and  be  set  on  fire  by  the  heavens." 

The  most  graphic  account  of  the  horrors  of  that  awful 
night  at  Pompeii  is  to  be  found  in  the  two  letters  of  the 
younger  Pliny  to  Tacitus.  Speaking  oi  his  efforts  to 
remove  his  mother  out  of  reach  of  harm,  while  she  was 
begging  him  to  leave  her  to  perish  and  save  himself,  he 
says :  "By  this  time  the  murky  darkness  had  so  increased 
that  one  might  have  believed  himself  abroad  in  a  black 
and  moonless  night,  or  in  a  chamber  where  all  the  lights 
had  been  extinguished.  On  every  hand  were  heard  the 
complaints  of  women,  the  wailing  of  children,  and  the 
cries  of  men.  One  called  his  father,  another  his  son, 
another  his  wife,  and  only  by  their  voices  could  they  know 
each  other.  Many  in  their  despair  begged  that  death 


356  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

would  come  and  end  their  distress.  Some  implored  the 
gods  to  succor  them,  and  some  believed  that  this  night 
was  the  last,  the  eternal  night  which  should  engulf  the 
universe!  Even  so  it  seemed  to  me  —  and  I  consoled 
myself  for  the  coming  death  with  the  reflection,  Behold 
the  world  is  passing  away!" 

No  one  saw  the  sun  rise  on  the  morrow.  The  clouds 
of  volcanic  matter,  still  pouring  their  pitiless  rain  upon 
the  ruins,  so  darkened  the  sky  that  people  could  not  tell 
when  the  day  came. 

And  there,  under  the  superincumbent  mass  of  stones 
and  dust,  the  city  slept  undisturbed  till  a  few  years  ago, 
with  everything  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Titus.  "It  was 
like  a  clock  that  stopped  when  the  householder  died. 
Meats  were  on  the  table  and  bread  was  in  the  oven ;  sen- 
tries were  in  their  boxes  and  dogs  on  guard  at  house 
doors."  Most  of  the  inhabitants  escaped,  but  it  is  esti- 
mated, from  the  skeletons  found  in  the  ruins,  that  not 
less  than  two  thousand  lost  their  lives.  In  the  museum 
by  the  entrance  at  the  Marine  Gate  we  are  shown  the 
blackened  loaves  of  bread,  recovered  from  the  bakeries, 
the  beans  and  eggs,  the  chickens  and  dogs,  or  their  shapes 
from  the  moulds  they  left  —  and,  most  distressing  of  all, 
human  figures.  "Plaster  of  Paris  had  been  poured  into 
the  hollows  where  bones  were  found,  and  in  all  the  con- 
tortion of  suffocation  or  convulsion  appeared  the  forms 
of  men  and  women.  How  little  the  ones  whose  brawny 
or  whose  delicate  outlines  we  gazed  upon  dreamt  that 
they  would  be  their  own  monuments  to-day,  and  be  seen 
by  the  eyes  of  other  races  and  ages,  eyes  curious,  but  not 
unsympathetic !  It  was  good  to  be  in  the  warm  sunshine 
again.  A  cloud  of  smoke  floated  like  a  gray  scarf  —  how 
gracefully  and  innocently  !  —  from  Vesuvius." 

We  walked  up  the  narrow  streets,  paved  with  blocks 


NAPLES  —  VESUVIUS  —  POMPEII.       357 

of  hard  lava,  deeply  rutted  by  chariot  wheels,  passing  the 
Basilica,  the  Forum,  the  Triumphal  Arch,  the  temples, 
the  theatres,  the  baths,  the  bakeries,  and  the  houses  of 
Pansa,  Diomedes,  and  the  Tragic  Poet  —  all  laid  bare 
and  clean  to  the  view.  We  had  the  good  fortune  to  see 
the  process  of  excavation  itself  —  for  while  most  of  the 
city  has  been  disentombed,  some  of  it  still  remains  under 
the  layers  of  small  grayish  white  pumice  stones  and  brown 
dust.  Three  or  four  men  were  shovelling  these  away 
as  we  passed.  From  most  of  the  houses  the  furniture 
and  wall  paintings  have  been  taken  away  to  the  museums. 
But  in  the  last  large  residence  exhumed,  one  which  has 
only  recently  been  brought  to  light,  nearly  everything  has 
been  left  as  it  was,  except  for  a  new  roof  of  mica  or  some 
such  substance,  which  has  been  built  over  it  for  its  pro- 
tection. Nearly  all  the  frescoes  are  as  fresh  as  on  the 
day  when  they  were  painted,  and  the  fountain  in  the 
peristyle  and  its  connecting  pipes  are  so  perfectly  pre- 
served that,  when  the  water  was  turned  into  them  by 
the  excavators,  the  fountains  began  to  play  as  they  did 
on  that  fateful  day  eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  "For 
as  in  the  days  that  were  before  the  flood  they  were  eating 
and  drinking,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  until  the 
day  that  Noah  entered  into  the  ark,  and  knew  not  until 
the  flood  came,  and  took  them  all  away,"  so  it  was  with 
the  careless  dwellers  in  this  opulent  city  —  and  so  it  is 
with  the  careless  dwellers  in  many  an  opulent  city  to-day. 

From  Naples  we  turned  our  faces  homeward,  taking 
passage  on  the  Konig  Albert,  and  coming  by  way  of 
Gibraltar  and  the  Azores.  We  had  a  delightful  ship's 
company,  including  Dr.  Andrew  D.  White,  the  accom- 
plished ex-president  of  Cornell  University  and  our  late 
Ambassador  to  Berlin,  whom  we  found  full  of  illuminat- 


358  A  YEAR  IN  EUROPE. 

ing  talk  about  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  and  other  great  men  and 
great  subjects.  After  a  quiet  and  restful  voyage,  afford- 
ing a  pleasant  contrast  with  our  experience  of  the  pre- 
ceding summer  when  outward  bound,  we  arrived  at  New 
York  on  the  loth  of  June,  1903,  deeply  thankful  for  all 
the  pleasure  and  benefit  the  year  had  brought  us,  and 
fully  convinced  that,  after  all,  ours  is  the  best  country 
in  the  world. 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Aberfoyle,  no. 

Addison,    Joseph,    funeral    of, 

159- 

Alfred  the  Great,  28,  147,  148, 
Amalfi,  352-354- 
America  and  England,  proposed 

alliance  of,  47. 
America's  future,  English  view 

of,  50,  51. 
American    Revolution,    British 

view  of,  42-45. 
Amsterdam,  islands  and  canals, 

226. 

built  on  piles,  227. 
business  activities,  227. 
Jewish  quarter,  228. 
Aquinas,  Thomas,  retort  to  the 

pope,  303. 
Ayr,   136. 

Balfour,  Arthur  J.,  Prime  Min- 
ister,  59. 
Bibles,  in  Edinburgh  churches, 

84,  88. 

Black,  Rev.  Hugh,  84. 
Blackie,  Prof.  Stuart,  on  Jenny 

Geddes,  91. 
on  Oban,  119. 
Blowing  Stone  of  King  Alfred, 

148,  149. 

Blue  Grotto  at  Capri,  349. 
Bologna,  colonnades,  248. 
leaning  towers,  249. 
University,  249. 
Galvani's  frog,  249. 
House  of  the  Virgin,  264. 
Booth,  General,  and  Salvation 

Army,  80. 
Buddha    canonized   by   Rome, 

295. 
British  Government  a  republic, 

55,  56. 

Burns,  Robert,  birthplace,   136. 
Burns,  Rev.  Thos.,  84. 

24 


Caledonian  Canal,  123. 
Cambridge,  62-67. 
Canterbury  Cathedral,  187,  188. 
Carnegie,  Andrew,  on  Ameri- 
ca's future,  50,  51. 
on  intemperance,   104,   105. 
Cathedrals  in  England,  original 

significance,  177. 
aesthetic  influence,  178. 
Romanizing    tendency,    179- 

185. 

Cenci,  Beatrice,  300. 
Charles  I.,  "the  martyr,"  139. 
Charles  II.,   wax  effigy  of,  in 

Westminster  Abbey,  170. 
defied  by  Bishop  Ken,  33. 
Chester,  137. 

Church-going  in  Edinburgh,  88. 
Claverhouse,  victory  and  death 

at  Killiecrankie,  133. 
Coblentz,  238. 
Coligni,  Admiral,  201-203. 
Cologne,  cathedral,  238. 

accident  to  baggage,  257. 
Commons,  House  of,  57-61. 
Confession  of  Faith,  153. 
Confessional,  the,  in  Rome,  309, 

310. 

Crieff,  135. 

Crockett,  S.  R.,  author,  109. 
Cromwell,    Oliver,    portrait    at 
Sidney  Sussex  College,  62. 
slandered  by  royalists,  174. 
body  disinterred  and  hanged, 

175,  i?6. 

statue  at  Westminster,  176. 
Culloden  Moor,  battle  of,  126. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  name  erased 
by  Gen.  Meigs,  173,  174. 

Delft,  217. 

Dickens,  Charles,  on  the  influ- 
ence of  Romanism,  312, 
3I3-. 


362 


INDEX. 


Disruption  of  1843  in  Scotland, 

93- 

Dods,  Marcus,  D.  D.,  82,  83. 
Drumtochty,  135. 

Edinburgh  and  environs,  100. 
slums,  101. 

English  Channel,  199. 

English  Education  Bill,  a  sec- 
tarian measure,  51-54- 

English  lakes,  135. 

English  pronunciations,  140, 
141. 

English  rural  scenery,  23. 

Episcopalians  in  Virginia,  192, 

193- 
Erasmus,  statue  of,  218. 

Farrar,  Dean,  sermon  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  77. 
Fingal's  Cave,  121,  122. 

Florence,  art  treasures,  250. 
Savonarola,  251,  252. 

Foxe,  Book  of  Martyrs,  304. 

Geddes,   Jenny  and  her   stool, 

91,  92. 

German  steamships,  12. 
Gibson,     Mrs.     Margaret     D., 

LL.  D.,  65,  66. 

Gladstone,  on  the  papacy,  313. 
Glasgow,  in. 

cathedral,  115,  116. 
Gray,   Rev.  Dr.  J.   Gordon,  in 

Rome,  337-340. 

Haarlem,  flowers,  tulip  mania, 

225. 

Hague,  The,  218. 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  on  Bor- 

ghese  Gardens,  320,  321. 
on  sensual  and  spiritual  art, 

334,  335- 

on  the  priests  of  Rome,  335, 
336. 

Heidelberg,  241. 

Henry  IV.,  death  of,  157. 

Henry  V.,  tomb  of,  271. 

Henry  VII.'s  Chapel  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  161. 


Henry  VIII.  detaches   Church 
of  England   from   the  pa- 
pacy, 181. 
Henson,    Canon,   on    Anglican 

narrowness,  190-192. 
Holland,  wrested  from  the  sea, 
212,  213. 

dykes,  canals,  wind-mills, 
polders,  213-215. 

scenery,  217. 

art,  219. 

Presbyterian  faith  and  un- 
presbyterian  church  build- 
ings, 220,  221. 

queer  customs,  228,  229. 

cleanliness,  230,  231. 

mother  of  America,  231-237. 
Huguenots,      worshipping      in 
Canterbury  Cathedral,  187, 
188,  207. 

origin  of  name,  201. 

massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew, 202. 

other  persecutions,  204,  205. 

the  world's  debt  to  them, 
205,  206. 

revival  in  France,  208-210. 

Intemperance  in  Scotland,  103- 

105. 

Inverness,  124. 
lona,  120. 
Iron  Crown  of  Lombardy,  265- 

269. 

Jerusalem   Chamber  Westmin- 
ster Abbey,  154-160. 

Johnson,    Dr.    Samuel,   opinion 

of  London,  40. 
prejudice    against    Scotland, 

7.1- 
visits  Flora  Maconald,  130. 

house  and  monument  at 
Lichfield,  137. 

buried  in  Westminster  Ab- 
bey, 165. 

Kelvin,  Lord,  116,  117. 
Ken,  Thomas,  31-33. 
Knox,  John,  greatest  of  Scotch- 
men, 80. 


INDEX. 


363 


Knox,  John — 
comments    on    the    ominous 

advent  of  Mary  Queen  of 

Scots,  85. 
Kruger,  Oom  Paul,  at  Utrecht 

228. 
Kuyper,    Rev.    Dr.    A..    Prime 

Minister  of  Holland,  220. 

Lewis,  Mrs.  Agnes  S.,  LL.  D., 

65,  66. 

Leyden,  siege,  222. 
University,  223,  224. 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  224. 
horse  flesh  as  food,  224,  225. 
interest  in  an  American  baby 

255- 

Lichfield,  137. 

Liguori's  Moral  Philosophy  ap- 
proved by  Leo  XIII.,  309. 
310. 

Loch  Katrine,  no. 
Loch  Leven,  135. 
Loch  Lomond,  in. 
Loch  Tay,  in. 
London,  soot,  34,  35. 
brick  houses.  36. 
compared  with  Glasgow  and 

Paris.  37-39,  200. 
immensity,  38. 
charm,  39,  40. 
Lucerne,  Lake,  243. 

Lion  of,  242. 
Luther,  monument  at  Worms, 

241. 
disenthrallment  at  Rome,  280. 

Macaulay.  Lord,  on  Romanism. 

3ii,  312. 

Macdonald,  Flora,  statue  at  In- 
verness, 125. 

saves    Prince    Charlie,    126- 
128. 

arrested,  128. 

confined    in   Tower  of  Lon- 
don, 129. 

marries,  130. 

entertains    Dr.    Johnson   and 
Boswell,  130. 

moves    to    North    Carolina, 
130. 


Macdonald,  Flora — 
her     husband     defeated     at 

Moore's  Creek,   131. 
returns  to  Scotland,  132. 
Mai  de  mer,  ir,  109. 
Martyrs  of  Scotland,  TOO.  107-9. 
Matheson,  Geo.,  D.  D.,  82.  83. 
Milan,    cathedral,     Leonardo's 

great  picture,  244. 
Milton,    John,     monument     in 

Westminster  Abbey.  173. 
Miracles,    alleged,    of    Christ's 

portrait.  280,  291. 
Christ's  footprints,  286. 
Ghislieri,  208,  299. 
San'tissimo  Bambino.  276-278. 
St.  Anne's  bones,  264. 
Sts.  Cosmo  and  Damian,  299. 
St.  Dominic,  296.  297. 
St.  Giovanni  de  Matha,  299. 
St.  Gregory,  299. 
St.  Januarius'  blood,  262. 
St.  Martin  I.,  299. 
St.  Paul's  head.  284.  285. 
St.  Peter's  head,  284. 
St.  Peter's  knees,  283. 
St.  Veronica's  napkin,  291. 
the  Virgin's  house,  264. 
the  Virgin's  image,  300. 
Wafer,  279. 

Monza,   Iron   Crown  of  Lorn- 
bar  dy,  265-269. 
Moravian      Mission      Agency, 

London,  79. 
More,  Sir  Thos.,  imprisonment 

and  death,  158. 
McNeill,  Rev.  John,  112. 

Naples,     scenery    and     scenes, 

346-348. 

blood  of  St.  Januarius,  262. 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  159. 

Oban,  119. 

Ocean,  a  modern  highway,  13. 
Overtoun,  garden  party.  112. 
Oxford,   compared   with   Cam- 
bridge, 63-65. 

Palissy  the  Potter,  202,  203. 
Papal  mania  for  building,  324. 


364 


INDEX. 


Paris,   beauty  of,   37,   38,    199, 

201. 

customs  in,  200. 
Parker,  Joseph,  D.  D.,  78. 
Parliament  Houses,  London,  56, 

57- 

Pasquinades,  301,  302,  307,  308. 
Penelope's  Progress,  quoted,  88. 
Perth,  133,  134. 
Pisa,  four  monuments,  252. 
Pompeii,  354-357- 
Popes,    general    character    of, 

303- 

retort  of  Thos.  Aquinas,  303. 

Pasquinades,  301,  302,  307, 
308. 

Adrian  VI.,  excessive  drink- 
ing of,  305. 

Alexander    VI.,    crimes    of, 

300,  306. 

Clement  VIII.  and  Beatrice 
Cenci,  300. 

Gregory  XIII.  and  assassina- 
tion of  Prince  of  Orange, 
306.  .. 

Innocent  VllL,  illegitimate 
children  of,  305. 

Innocent    X.    and    Olympia, 

301,  302. 

Joan,  woman  pope,  legend  of, 

304,  305. 

John  XII.,  crimes  of,  305. 
Leo  XIII..  appearance,  317. 

approval  of  Liguori's  Moral 
Philosophy,  309. 

audience,  315-318. 

blessing  machine,  302,  303. 

last  jubilee.  318. 
Paul  II.,  vanity  of,  304. 
Paul  III.,  nepotism  of,  305. 
Paul  V.  and  assassination  of 

Paolo  Sarpi,  306. 
Pius  V.  and  assassination  of 

Queen  Elizabeth,  306. 
Pius  X.,  a  good  man.  314. 
Sixtus  IV.,  enemy  of  Medici, 

305. 
Urban  VIII.,  self-esteem  of, 

304- 

Prayers,   written,   in   Presbyte- 
rian churches,  186,  187. 


Presbyterian  Church,  largest 
Protestant  church  in  the 
world,  114. 

Presbyterian  Queen  of  Hol- 
land, 220. 

Presbyterian  services,  183,  184, 

196-198,   220,   221. 

Prestonpans,  battle  of,  87. 
Prince  Charlie,   unique  prayer 
for,  87. 

victory  at  Prestonpans,  87. 

defeat  at  Culloden,  126. 

flight  to  Hebrides,   126. 

saved   by   Flora    Macdonald, 
127,  128. 

ingratitude,  128. 

burial  in   St.   Peter's  Cathe- 
dral, 128. 

Protestantism  contrasted  with 
Romanism  by  Macaulay, 
Dickens  and  Gladstone, 
3II-3I3- 

Queen  Elizabeth,  wax  effigy  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  170. 

Queen  Wilhelmina,  220. 

Quheile,  Shoe  Heel,  Maxton, 
134- 

Relics — 

Abraham's  stone,  283. 
Aaron's  rod,  279,  281. 
Bambino,  Santissimo,  276- 

278. 
Christ's  blood,  281. 

communion  table,  278. 

cross,  280,  291. 

footprints,  286. 

loaves  and  fishes,  279. 

pillar,  282,  289. 

protrait,  280,  291. 

sandals,  280. 

seamless  coat,  278. 

towel,  279. 
devil's,    the,    missile    against 

St.  Dominic,  297. 
John     the     Baptist's     tooth, 

265. 

Maccabees,  286. 
Santa  Culla.  273-275. 
Santissimo  Bambino,  276-278. 


INDEX. 


365 


Relics — 

Scala  Santa,  279,  280. 
St.  Andrew's  head,  291. 

cross.  286. 
St.    Anne's    bones,    Quebec, 

264. 
St.    Dominic's    orange    tree, 

298. 

St.  Edmund's  bones,  261. 
St.  Januarius'  blood,  262. 
St  Lawrence's  bones,  295, 

296. 

fat,  281. 

St.  Longinus'  spear,  291. 
St.  Mark's  bones,  260. 
St.  Paul's  body,  290. 
head,    miraculous    springs, 

284.  285. 

St.  Peter's  body,  290. 
chains,  286-288. 
chair,  290. 
cross,  286. 
head,  278. 
knees,  283. 
spring,  284. 
St.   Philomena's  bones,   293, 

294. 

St.  Stephens's  bones,  295,  296. 
St.  Thomas'  finger,  281. 
St.  Veronica's  napkin,  291. 
Virgin's  hair,  281. 
house,  263. 
milk,  281. 
stone  seat.  283. 
veil,  265,  281. 

Rembrandt's  "School  of  Anat- 
omy," 217. 

Renwick,  James,  martyr,  107. 
Rhine,  vintage,  239. 
Robertson,  Rev.  Alex.,  quoted, 
246,  261,  276,  280,  302,  303, 
310. 
Roman    Catholicism    in    Italy, 

Dr.  Mariano  on,  308. 
Macaulay,  Dickens  and  Glad- 
stone on,  311-313- 
(See  also  Robertson.) 
Rome-y 

Appian  Way,  341- 
Arrival  at  night,  253. 


Rome — 
Art,    sensual    and    spiritual, 

334,  335- 

Baths  of  Caracalla,  323. 
Books  on  Rome,  343-345. 
Borghese  Gardens,  320,  321. 
Building  boom,  325,  326. 
Cappucin  Cemetery,  328,  329. 
Catacombs,  341,  342. 
Colosseum,  322,  323. 
Deities  worshipped,  332.  333. 
Domine  Quo  Vadis,  286. 
Fees  before  souls,  334. 
Gray,    Rev.   Dr.   J.   Gordon, 

337,  340. 

Guidp's  "Michael,"  333. 
Inquisition,  331,  332. 
Janiculum,    view    from,    321, 

322. 
Jesuit  Church  and  the  devil, 

307- 

Mamertine  Prisons,  284. 
Michael    Angelo's    "Moses," 

287. 
Morals  of  clergy,   269,   270, 

3io,  335,  336. 
Pasquino,  307. 
Piazza  Sccssa  Cavalli,  282. 
Pincian  Hill,  320. 
Pompey,  statue,  342. 
Presbyterian  Church,  337-'4O. 
Priscilla  and  Aquila,  house. 

of,  340. 

Quirinal,  322,  337. 
Raphael,  335. 

Royalties,  visiting,  319,  320. 
Rosary     presented     to     St. 
Dominic  by  the  Virgin,  297. 
St.     Peter's    Catheral,    289- 

291. 

Tre  Fontane,  284,  285. 
Unwashed  monks,  329. 
Vatican,  315.  322. 
Villa  Doria  PamfiH,  302. 
Villa  Medici,  view  from.  321. 
(See   also    Miracles,    Popes, 
Relics,  and  Roman  Catholi- 
cism.) 

Rosaries,    introduced    by    Do- 
minicans, 298. 
Rugby,  143. 


366 


INDEX. 


Sabbath  observance  in  Scot- 
land, 102. 

Salisbury  Cathedral,  21,  22. 
Sanquhar  Declaration,  109. 
Sarpi,  Fra  Paolo,  247,  248. 
Savonarola,  251,  252. 
Sayce,  Prof.  A.  H.,  84. 
Scotland,   character  of  people, 
80,  81,  102. 

cities  solid  and  stately,  37. 

humor,  113. 

oatmeal,  70,  71. 

public  worship,  71-90,  i84-'5. 

scenery,  68,  69. 

sermon  taster,  94. 

weather,  84,  85. 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  69.  70,  100. 

on     superiority    of     Presby- 
terian worship,  183,  184. 
Scottish  and  American  repartee, 

96-98. 

Shorter  Catechism,  151-156. 
Simon  Magus,   discomfited  by 

St.  Peter>283. 
Si'nony  at  Rome,  302. 
Southampton,  16. 
Staffa,  121,  122. 
Stirling,  107,  108. 
Stonehenge,  24,  25. 
Strasburg,  clock,  241,  243. 
Stratford-on-Avon,  138. 

American  window,  139. 

sing-song  of  children,  140. 
Stuart    kings,     buried    in    St. 

Peter's,  343,  344. 
St.  Peter's  Cathedral,  289. 
Switzerland,  scenery  in  summer 
and  winter,  241,  242. 

Twain,  Mark,  on  relics,  259, 
260,  262,  263. 

on  differences  between  Amer- 
ica and  Italy,  329,  330. 

on  the  Inquisition,  331,  332. 

on  the  relative  rank  of  the 
deities  of  Rome,  332,  333. 

Venice,  palaces,  -^45. 

fallen  Campanile,  245.  246. 
Church  of  Jesuits,  246. 
gondolas,  246,  256,  257. 
Fra  Paolo  Sarpi,  247.  248. 
bones  of  St.  Mark,  260. 


Vesuvius,  ascent  of,  350-352. 
Victor  Emmanuel,  liberator  of 
Italy,  309. 

Wallace,  Sir  William,  107. 
Walton,  Izaak,  29,  30. 
Watson,  Rev.  John,  D.  D.— 

Financial    Agent    of    West- 
minster College,  65. 

Drumtochty  Stories,  135. 

Young  Barbarians,  142. 
Watts,  Isaac,  17-20. 
Westminster  Abbey — 

architectural  interest,   i6o-'i. 

burials,  163,  164. 

coronations,  161,  162. 

decorated  for  coronation,  152, 

153- 

Edward  the  Confessor's  tomb, 
171. 

Henry  VII.'s  Chapel,  161. 

Jerusalem  Chamber,  154-161. 

monuments,  164-167. 

monuments  denied  to  notable 
persons,  172,  173. 

mutilated  monuments,  171. 

Poets'  Corner,  164. 

royal  chapels,  168,  169. 

wax  effigies,  169,  170. 
Westminster  Assembly  of  Di- 
vines, I53-I55- 

Westminster  College,  Cam- 
bridge, 64. 

White,  Dr.  Andrew  D.,  on 
canonization  of  Buddha, 

295- 

on  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi,  357. 
White  Horse  Hill,  145-149. 
Wiesbaden,  239,  240. 
Wilson,  Margaret,  martyr,  107- 

109. 
Winchester,  Cathedral,  28-30. 

college.  30,  31. 
Worms,  Luther  monument,  241. 

Zanardelli,  Prime  Minister,  on 
the  morality  of  the  priests, 
269,  270. 

opposition  to  the  papacy,  309. 
Zola,  Emile,  on  Roman  megalo- 
mania, 322-326. 
on  the  multitude  of  priests  in 
Rome,  326,  327. 


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